Relationship with God

Tight Hold

/ chriskmn / Leave a comment

My 4 year old has a strong personality. Maybe all 4 year olds have strong personalities, but I don’t remember my daughters behaving the way my son does at times. Also, whenever someone says the phrase “strong personality,” I think it is ultimately code for, “pain in the bum.” And while my son is sweet and good and generous, he can also be a pain in the bum. Maybe you know someone like that. 

The thing he does that bugs me more than just about anything else is when he won’t turn off the TV. I’d like to be the kind of person who can say, “Yeah, my family doesn’t watch a lot of TV.” But reality is that we do watch more TV than we should (please don’t send me an article on toddlers and screen time. I know.) 

Sometimes when it’s time to turn off the TV, Leo will take the remote, pretend like he is going to turn it off, and then just stand with the remote in his hands and stare at the TV. Almost no amount of cajoling will get him to give up the remote. One time I made the mistake of trying to physically remove the remote from his hands. I couldn’t believe how strong he was. The kid weighs 30 lbs and it was all I could do to pry his little fingers apart. Unbelievable. 

In the gospel, Jesus claims his followers. He says we will know his voice. We will follow him. He will give us eternal life. Then Jesus says no one can take us out of his hand. No one can take us out of the Father’s hand. Scholars tell us that this is a turn of phrase that means that if God wants to hold onto us, no one can take us from him. 

I think sometimes we believe that there are forces in our lives that can pry us out of God’s grasp. Our busy schedules make it hard to go to Church on Sunday. Kids activities and sports tournaments get in the way of being committed to Church stuff. Our work life keeps us from a daily prayer practice. Have you ever heard anyone say things like this? Have you said them?

What Jesus is saying in the gospel is that nothing, I mean nothing, can steal us from God’s grip. No outside force can pry our lives out of God’s hand. Nothing can remove our souls from Jesus’ embrace.

The bad news is that anytime we do fall away from God, it isn’t anyone else fault but ours. When work or kids activities or busyness get in the way of God, it’s because we’ve chosen them over God. Nothing can pry us from God’s grasp, but we can walk away anytime.

When we choose something instead of God, it isn’t because that thing is more powerful than God. It is because we want it more than God in that moment. It’s us. It’s always been us who walk away.

Maybe that is hard for you to read. It was hard for me to write. 

The good news is that God loves us more than our sin. While we turn away, God turns to us. When we run, he runs after us. When we pry ourselves out of God’s grip, God opens up his arms even wider and hopes we will run back to him soon. 

So whether you feel like you are currently being held in God’s hands or feel like you are far from your loving God, don’t fret, nothing is more powerful than God. God is bigger than your sin. God loves you more than you love everything else in your life. All you have to do is return to him. 

LIVE IT: Find something in your house, car, or office that symbolizes God. Maybe a crucifix from the wall or a Bible. Pick it up, and hold onto it really really tightly. Pretend that someone is going to try and steal it from you and hold onto it. Then say a quick prayer asking God to hold onto you tighter than you are holding onto that thing. Let God hold you close. 

Sunday Readings for May 8, 2022.

Whatever.

/ chriskmn / Leave a comment

My best friends in the world are great meat eaters. If it comes to buying, preparing, or dinning out on meat, I 100%, without hesitation trust what they say. If they tell me the double pork chop at such-and-such a restaurant is worth the price, I am making reservations. If they have a new way to sous vide and reverse sear a brisket, I’m making plans to make the recipe happen. I trust them completely in regards to meat. 

Do trust anyone like that? Is there anyone who, when it comes to food or coffee or art you trust completely? How did you build that trust? What about them makes them trustworthy?

The gospel this Sunday is the story of the wedding at Cana. Most of us are likely very familiar with the details of the story (If you need a refresher, read it here). One line stuck out to me this time. Mary tells Jesus they are out of wine. Jesus responds basically questioning what it has to do with him. Marty responds, not by correcting or encouraging Jesu, but by turning to the the waitstaff and saying, “do whatever he tell you.”

Mary’s trust in Jesus is deep, powerful and authentic. No one has a closer relationship with Jesus than Mary because no one trusts Jesus more than Mary. 

Mary’s trust in Jesus is actually present in multiple ways. First she trusts that he as the ability to do something about it. This was his first public miracle. Jesus doesn’t exactly have the track record of a wonder worker. Yet, Mary trusts that he can some how make it so that there is enough wine for the wedding to continue. 

Mary also trusts that Jesus will do something. This is incredible because Jesus just literally denied that this was his responsibility. Yet Mary knew his heart and trusted that Jesus would in fact act and save the wedding. 

Finally Mary trusts that Jesus would engage the other humans present to accomplish the mission. Jesus didn’t stagger off carrying giant water vessel after water vessel to go get it filled up. No, Jesus cooperates with the humanity present to miraculously change water to wine, a failed wedding into perfect nuptials. 

While there are many lessons held with in these words, the one I am taking away this week is that if you want a miracle performed, trust Jesus. Trust he is able. Trust he is willing. Trust he will cooperate with us to get the job done. 

Sunday Readings for January 16, 2022.

One Mightier than I.

/ chriskmn / Leave a comment

I love ping pong. Growing up, I had a table in my basement and at our neighborhood pool. I played a ton of table tennis as a teenager and got pretty good at it. All those reps serving, returning, lunging, and diving built up a significant amount of muscle memory. Not only was I a pretty good ping pong player, but I was pretty proud of how good I was. I loved taking on all challengers and quickly dispatching them. 

That was until I was entirely and completely destroyed in one game. As you can imagine I was talking big and feeling strong. My opponent was quiet but happy to play. Within a couple of serves I knew I was in trouble. After loosing by double digits, I received some humble pie when my opponent did the most in your face thing ever – he was nice to me about it. In my experience competitive people are only nice when they play someone who they don’t think is very good. I encounter someone mightier than I (at ping pong). 

In the gospel this Sunday, John the Baptist has collected a large, diverse group of followers. Each groups asks John how they are to behave. He answers with simple, clear directions. The gospel then says they were “asking in their hearts” about whether John was the Messiah. In other words, they wondered, but they didn’t ask anything out loud. 

John is a prophet, so he answers the question the crowd isn’t asking. He says,”I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals…”

When we encounter someone mightier than us, we tend to have one of two reactions. Sometimes our defenses can raise. We can become antagonistic because someone is better than us. We can become resentful because we meet someone who outshines us. We can become indignant that someone out performs us on our turf. (Here is looking at you pharisees, scribes, temple officials.)

Or we can choose to be like John the Baptist. We can acknowledge the truth of the situation and recognize that our worth isn’t tied to our performance, but to the gift of sonship or daughter we’ve received from God through our baptism.

When it comes to encountering Jesus I think some of us even put up walls or are resentful. It is as if, we know Jesus is better than us and we can’t stand to fathom being near to him  because we are self-conscience about how bad we look. We can be fearful that Jesus’ goodness will illuminate our badness. As sad as his reality is, I do believe some people react in this way to Jesus coming. (Here’s looking at you Herod.) 

As we draw closer to Christmas and draw closer to Jesus coming to us in a unique way at the end of 2021, we have a choice. We can be like Herod or the Pharisees or we can be like John the Baptist. Will you welcome one mightier than you or deny him this Christmas?

Live It: Make a plan to welcome Jesus into your house and your heart this Christmas. With 2 weeks left, gather your family and make a plan for how Jesus is going to be the best thing about Christmas this year. 

Sunday Readings for December 12, 2021.

Careful where you sit

/ chriskmn / Leave a comment

Whenever I have gone to a baseball game or a play or some other spectacle, my dad, without fail, would comment on our seats. If our seats are good, he will lavish praise upon on view and how close we are to the field. If they aren’t so good he will say, “Well, every seat inside the stadium/theater is better than every seat outside.”

In the gospel this Sunday Jesus preaches about pride and money. He seeks to teach us about generosity and self-gift. Jesus is seeking to show us that what we give God is judged on what it costs us not on how much it is. An important lesson. But I think there is another thing to learn in the story as well.

When explaining to his disciples that they should be wary of the Scribes behavior he mentions the Scribe’s long robs, their devouring of widow’s houses, and lengthy prayers. He also mentions that Scribes often sit in a seat of honor in the synagogue and in places of honor at banquets. 

Immediately after this condemnation of the Scribes’ behavior, the story shifts and the gospel says, “Jesus sat down opposite the treasury…” I don’t believe this is an accident. Jesus uses the seat location choice of the Scribes to demonstrate their pride and then Jesus demonstrates his humility by sitting across from the treasury in the Temple. Jesus’ proper place to sit is inside the Temple, but instead he chooses to sit across from he treasury. 

Jesus doesn’t just teach us via words and admonitions about how we should behave, but he also demonstrates it and acts it out himself. This is one of the reasons that following Jesus isn’t just a thing of words. 

Within the master and disciple relationship, masters teach and act and disciples listen and mirror that behavior. The same is true for the disciples of Jesus. They not only listen to his teaching the seek to emulate his behavior. Disciples do this until they naturally behave as the master would. This is the life of a disciple of Jesus.

What does this mean for us? First we are to listen to the teaching of Jesus. We do this by reading Scripture and listening to those whom he has put in places of authority (the Church). Then we seek to emulate his behavior. We seek to do what Jesus would do. 

Live It: Change where you sit at the dinner table this week. What happens in you? What reaction does it get from others? Spend some time thinking and praying about the answers to both questions. 

Sunday Readings for November 7, 2021

Almost spilled milk.

/ chriskmn / Leave a comment

My three and half year-old son took the gallon of milk out of the fridge all by himself the other day. His plan was to pour himself a large glass of milk and savor every drop. The kid loves milk. The only problem is that the gallon of milk is about 30% of his body weight. After he successfully got it out of the fridge door, he couldn’t lift it, move it. He just dropped it on the ground and finally decided he needed help. 

He is at that age where he has decided he is a “big boy” and can do anything. Thus, he tries to do everything with various levels of success. I can’t judge him too hard for this as I think every single adult does this same thing at times. Let me explain. 

In the gospel Jesus is teaching about marriage, divorce, and, ultimately, authority. The Pharisees were asking if divorce is lawful. Jesus responds that it is not because what God has joined, humans cannot separate. 

I think we often fall into thinking that we have final authority. What we says goes. ”It’s my life.” It’s my beliefs.” “Its my body.” Fill in your favorite way to make the same statement – I’m in charge and there is no one in authority over me. Some people believe this. Some people think this statement is objectively wrong. Unfortunately, we all live like we believe it at times. 

No matter what we believe about this statement, we all encounter moments when we act like we are the ultimate authority in the universe. Sometimes we act as if the whole of existence depends upon us. 

The truth is that God is God and we are not. God is the author of truth, not us. The sin of Adam and Eve wasn’t just eating a pomegranate (not an apple, FYI). Their sin was disobeying God by trying to be the the author of truth. Their sin was trying to become God, to do God’s job instead of being a fully alive human being. 

When we try to write our own truth, we engage in the same sin as Adam and Eve. When we seek to be God, we aren’t being the beloved son and daughter of God that we were made to be. No matter how hard we try or how it may look, we aren’t the author of truth. That is a good thing.

LIVE IT: If we are going to believe that God is author of truth, we should read his book. Read just chapter 10 from Mark’s Gospel. It’s not long, but it is good. Find it here. 

Sunday Readings for Oct. 3, 2021.

Whatever it takes.

/ chriskmn / 1 Comment

Have you ever pulled an all nighter? For me it was only a handful of times in college (okay, and once or twice since). I would have a major paper due for a class. I would think I was farther along in the writing process the week before, but at about 11:30 p.m. I would discover I still had a long way to go before the paper was done. 

For me, 99% of the time all nighters happened because of poor planning or procrastination. However, some of the time life is such that an all nighter is just the thing that needs to happen to get the job done. Sometimes an all nighter is necessary. 

Doing what needs to be done is what Jesus is preaching about in the gospel this Sunday. Jesus says if a hand or an eye causes you to sin, remove the eye or the hand. It is better to be maimed than to go to hell with your appendages in tact.

Of course, this seems crazy to us. I think it was meant to seem over the top to whomever heard it in the first place. Jesus is seeking to demonstrate that heaven is worth doing whatever it takes to spend eternity there. Jesus is seeking to show us that hell, separation from God, is so wretched that each of us must do what is necessary to avoid it. 

I think many people operate with this guiding question, “What can I get away with and still get into heaven?” This ultimately isn’t helpful. When we think of our faith as a loving relationship, this question does not give anyone the warm fuzzies. What is the least I can do and still be in love? Yuck. 

Rather this gospel invites us to think in the affirmative. What am I willing to do to go to heaven? What are you willing to do to love well?

Live It: I am going to take a wild guess and say if there was one appendage that you could cut off in order for you to become more holy it would probably be your cell phone. At least that is me. The challenge this week is a big one. Put your cell phone away for a week. Sure, carry it around for emergencies and calls/texts, but make a commitment for one week, to not search the internet, check out your fav apps, or look at social media. What are you willing to do for love, for heaven?

I bet you think you are right.

/ chriskmn / Leave a comment

A friend of mine likes to say, “I’m wrong more often than I am right. But at least I am right more often than everyone else.” I can’t figure out if he is being humble or prideful. Either way it shows the basic human desire to be right. 

No one likes to be wrong. Especially when we are put in a position where we disagree with someone else. No, we want to be right and to show that the other person is wrong. There must be some survival of the fittest stuff going on there. 

In the gospel this weekend, Peter is about as right as person can be. Jesus asks his followers who they think he is. Peter boldly answers that Jesus is the Christ. Wow. He couldn’t be more right. It took a lot of guts to answer at all and much more to call Jesus the chosen savior of humankind. 

Jesus explains that he will have to suffer, be reject, and killed all by the people he is trying to save. Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes Jesus for saying these things. What does Jesus do? He turns right back around and denounces Peter in front of everyone by saying, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking as God does, but has human beings do.” Yikes. Jesus says that Peter is so much of an obstacle to accomplish the Jesus’ mission, it is as if Peter is Satan. Rough. No one wants to be that wrong about anything. 

When it comes to being wright or wrong, I think the important thing to remember is that we don’t determine what is right and wrong. We are not the arbiters of truth. The gospel shows that it is Jesus who determines what is right and wrong.

Too often we try and focus on WHO is right and WHO is wrong. This takes truth and makes it subjective to the people involved. 

God is the one and only author of truth. If we want to be holy and happy, then we must submit to the reality that only God determines truth. 

Live It: Open your Bible and read John 8:31-32 ten times in a row. Read slowly and purposefully. Extra credit if you read it out loud. 

Don’t have a Bible? You can find John 8:31-32 here.

Sunday Readings for September 12, 2021.

Hi. I’m Chris and I’m a…

/ chriskmn / Leave a comment

At the center of the dimly lit Church basement a group of flimsy folding chairs were arranged in a circle. Each one was filled with someone who appeared to be happy to be there. It wasn’t so much the space that made these individuals happy, but the fact that they were anywhere with other people. I was new. It was my first time attending this group. 

I was called upon and quickly stood, looked each and every one of the others in the eye and then said, “Hi, I’m Chris and I’m an Extrovert.” Instantly everyone sprang up to meet me, no longer restricted by the social convention of circled chairs. I felt totally at home with a group of strangers. The small talk was exceptional

Okay okay, Extroverts Anonymous doesn’t exist. I googled it and could only find a covid pandemic short film and a twitter account. But if there was an Extroverts Anonymous, you could imagine that the meetings would never really start or end because everyone was too busy chatting. 

In the gospel this Sunday Jesus heals a deaf and mute man with a speech impediment. However this healing story is different than many of the other healing stories in the gospel. Typically Jesus heals in public. This Sunday we hear, “He (Jesus) took him off by himself away from the crowd.” Why?

I think it shows that Jesus knows exactly the kind of healing and ministry each of us needs. While many would be fine to be healed in front of everyone, clearly Jesus perfectly adjusted his ministry to the needs of the man. 

Whether you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert, whether you get your energy from being alone or being with other people, all of us benefit from going off alone with Jesus.  Even when it is exhausting to be alone, the spiritual benefit of one on one time with Jesus outweighs any other cost. There is a reason God kept choosing shepherds to lead his people. Being alone with just the Lord and wide open spaces changes us and grows an intimate relationship with our Lord.

Live It:
Get some alone time with Jesus this week. Whether it is 20 minutes all at once or it is 5 minutes every day for this week. Find some time to step away and be alone with Jesus. (Even if you’re an extrovert)

What is Owed.

/ chriskmn / Leave a comment

Which one of your parents do you look more like? Which one of your kids looks most like you? My kids look like collective mixes of my wife and I. A friend of mine who is a grandparent says that her grandkids look like her. She also admits that the other grandma says that the grandkids look like the other grandma. My friend admitted they are probably both right.

In the gospel this week Jesus answers a difficult question about whether or not to pay taxes. Remember the Romans were the occupying enemy force of the Jewish people. They hated the Romans and so to pay taxes was to support the enemy. But to not pay taxes was treason.

Jesus takes this difficult question and turns it into a lesson on our relationship with God. Jesus tells those gathered to pay to Caesar what is Caesar’s. And what is Caesar’s? The coins with Caear’s face on them. Then Jesus says repay to God what is God’s. What is God’s? The logic flows that anything that has God’s face. Just as the coins that have Caesar’s face on them belong to Caesar, anything that has God’s face is God’s.

Genesis 1:27 says, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” What has God’s image? You do. I do. We do. What are we supposed to repay to God? Us.

What God wants from us is us. He doesn’t want us for what we can do. He doesn’t need it. He doesn’t want us for what we can offer, for he gave us all that we have. He doesn’t choose us because of what we deserve. He wants us because he loves us. Since God gave us everything, we owe him everything.

God loves us because we are his. What he wants from us is our whole selves.

Live It: Put a penny or other coin into your pocket tomorrow (even if you are wearing sweatpants at home). Every time you feel that coin in your pocket remember that you are made in the image and likeness of God and make a little prayer offering yourself to God. 

Sunday Readings for October 18th, 2020.

It’s a Miracle! Why?

/ chriskmn / Leave a comment

When I was in college and dating my future wife, we would go to crazy lengths to see each other. Summer between Junior and Senior year, I lived in St. Louis, MO and she lived in MN. Somehow we ended up seeing each other multiple times that summer. She drove down to visit me. I drove to go see her. We would do whatever it took to just be near each other. Hundreds of dollars and many tanks of gas, just to be close.

In the gospel this Sunday Jesus performs a miracle. Jesus takes a small amount of food, five loaves and two fish, and he multiplies the bread until there was more than enough for 5,000 men (probably 20,000 – 30,000 people total). Jesus transgressed the laws of nature to create a superabundance of food. Why?

The miracle both harkened back to the Old Testament when God gave Manna to the Israelites as they wandered in the desert. It reminds us of the prophet Elisha multiplying meager rations to feed 100 hundred men. It looks forward to the Last Supper and Jesus instituting the Eucharistic celebration and to the heavenly banquet of the saints and angels.

Of course, Jesus performs this miracle to demonstrate his power and to allow the people to witness a miracle of a messiah. Jesus multiplies the loaves, because the people are hungry. All of this is true. 

In this version in Matthew, Jesus multiplies the loaves to keep the people close. The disciples were ready to send the crowd away because they didn’t have enough food for them. But Jesus performs this incredible miracle because he doesn’t want to send the people away. Jesus wants to keep the people close to him. 

The truth this teaches us is that through the Eucharist, Jesus brings us close to himself. It is in and through the Mass that God draws nearest to us. In fact, we take him inside our bodies and we become one flesh with Jesus Christ King of Kings. Just as the multiplication of loaves was a miracle that allowed the people to stay close to Jesus, the Eucharist is a miracle that allows us to get intimately close to Jesus. 

If you feel far from God, one surefire way to get near him is to go to Mass. If your faith is wavering, it is in the Eucharist that you will feel closer to the God who loves you unconditionally. 

LIVE IT: Go to Mass. Whether it is a daily or Sunday Mass, get there and be near to Jesus in the Eucharist.

Sunday Readings for August 2nd, 2020