[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, January 28, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time MARK 1:21-28 The Sabbath was made for man Prayerthoughts a. Jesus was a teacher who truly moved his hearers to follow God’s will. Although I may not be a formal teacher, I influence others. How should I be better in my influence? b. Our Sabbath day is Sunday. In general, have I kept holy our Sabbath Day by spending time with prayer and with family? c. Jesus could see that an exception was given in the past to accommodate people, showing that people were more important than law. Have I shown a sincere love for all people in my immediate circle? How can I be better at it? d. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. What does the statement mean to me? e. In general, what does Jesus mean when He says that the Sabbath was made for man? f. My prayerthoughts….   Today I will read 1 Corinthians, chapter 7 and write an important thought from it. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy THE POWER OF THE VISION           One of the stories that I use on retreats is a story from song-writer Harry Chapin called “The Rock”:           There was a town located in a valley between a couple of large mountains. Anyone who entered the town knew that there was a problem because on the top of one of the mountains, there was a large boulder. It looked like if there was some type of earth movement, it would shake loose, come down, cause an avalanche and hurt the people in the valley.           The song is about a young person who had a vision that said that it was going to happen exactly the way it looked—the rock would shake loose, cause an avalanche and hurt a lot of people. His job was to convince the people that it was going to happen so that they would take precautions.           So, he went to his mother, first of all, who asked him one question: “Has that rock ever come down?” When he said “No,” she would not listen to his vision, and told him, “That rock has been up there for a hundred thousand years. It has not come down yet. It will not in the future. Go back to sleep, you’re having a bad dream.”           So, he went to the school, thinking that they are smart people, and told them about his vision. They asked him one question: “Has that rock ever come down?” When he said “No,” they would not listen to his vision any longer, and told him, “That rock has been up there for a hundred thousand years. It has not come down yet. It will not in the future. We have more important things to study.”           So, he went to the City Council, thinking that they have the interest of the city at heart, and told them about his vision. They asked him one question: “Has that rock ever come down?” When he said “No,” they would not listen to his vision any longer, and told him, “That rock has been up there for a hundred thousand years. It has not come down yet. It will not in the future. And they laughed at him, called him a “silly child” and chased him away.           But he was convinced that the vision was correct, and decided to go up the mountain all by himself. He felt that if he could build a ledge around the edge of the mountain, he could stop the rock long enough to warn the people. That is exactly what he did.           Sure enough, late one night, it happened exactly the way the vision said—the rock began to go. It made a lot of noise, and so the people in the valley came out of their homes and looked up at the mountain. They could not hear the young person when he called. And it was late at night, and the people could not see him when he frantically waved his arms.           The young man panicked. What can I do? It is important to freeze the picture: what do you do when you want with all your heart to stop a tragedy from happening and you cannot?           In a moment of decision, he decided to run under it in hopes that the rock would stop.           And it did.           And so did the sound. The people said: “Oh, that rock has been up there for a hundred thousand years. It will not come down. I wonder what happened to that kid.”           And they laughed, went back into their homes, and back about their business. Chapin ends the song: “High up on the mountain, when the wind is hitting it, if you’re watching very closely, the rock slips a little bit.” Because it was still coming.           The problems that will destroy are still coming. The rock in the story represents those problems, the problems of our world. But there is an answer: what might be called “The Vision,” what the evangelist Mark calls the “new teaching” in the Gospel, that gives us the power to recognize those problems and to do something about them.             The overpowering message of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ is stronger than the spirit of evil, and that we are not alone. Jesus casts out that spirit in the Gospel today with authority and a new teaching, what we just called “The Vision.” And he continues to cast out that evil. An evil spirit will never be able to withstand the Lord’s presence.             There is evil that is fighting against that Vision, that teaching, an evil that counsels us to complacency saying: we’ve had those problems for a hundred thousand years. You’ve lived in these problems, and there is no way to solve these problems. They are too big, too many people involved, bigger than all of us. And you are only one person who sees it. What can you do?             The young man in the song did not even make a dent on the spirit of evil. He may have had some vision, but the spirit of evil was too strong. It forced him to go it alone, and then it really was impossible to do anything.           There is evil here—that is not a put-down of our Church because there is evil everywhere, especially in Church because evil does not like Church. It can crush us. The problems are still coming—the rock slips a little bit. But we have the Vision of Jesus Christ that will sustain us, if we allow it to truly influence us.             If we truly allow that to happen, our world will change. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Karma” — Taylor Swift KARMA IS A GOD The Gospel MATTHEW 25:31-46 Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when…?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 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. … Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”Gospelthink: I want you to see that you will be judged at the end of your life by how well you took care of others.

“You’re talking bad for the hell of it, addicted to betrayal, but you’re relevant. You’re terrified to look down, cause if you dare, you’ll see the glare of everyone you burned just to get there. It’s coming back around. And I keep my side of the street clean, you wouldn’t know what I mean. ‘Cause karma is my boyfriend, karma is a god, karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend. Karma’s a relaxing thought.”

Taylor Swift’s song “Karma” uses the  definition of “karma” to be the idea of “rebirth.” If one has a transformation of self, a “rebirth” early on, it will affect what happens in the future. She is expressing her belief that one’s present actions, once trasnformed, will decide his/her future actions. She is quite happy with her fate brought about by her actions so far. In that sense, karma is a “boyfriend” and a “god.” Her enemies do not fare as well. “I keep my side of the street clean, you wouldn’t know what I mean,” she sings. Therefore, in her mind, “karma” will bring about good if you do good, and bad if you do bad, pressing her belief that one’s present actions will decide his/her future fate. She is quite happy with her fate brought about by her actions so far. For her, “karma” is a god. Applying the song to Christian living, one has crossed into the realm of what Jesus wants for all of his followers. He describes it in terms of giving to Him, Jesus. Whenever a person gives to another in the different areas of giving–food, drink, clothing and so forth, such a person not only takes care of the other out of love, but in Jesus’ mind, actually is giving to Him. “You did it for me,” he says. And, as such, it is affecting the Christian’s future life. In a sense then, Jesus is describing the actions of his story to be “karma” for the people on his right. They managed to learn during the course of their lives that they had to treat other people well, a “rebirth” so to speak. As a result, he says that they have become “righteous” in what they do and at the end of their lives, they are given eternal life. Taylor Swift feels that “karma” is a god. In a Christian understanding, the “karma” is a the teaching of their God–captial G–who has taught them the way to behave early on so that their lives will be affected for the good later on.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, the secret to a happy world lies in our relationships to one another. Help us learn to be a true Christian to everyone we meet early in life, remembering that as Your Son is to us, so we must be to one another. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: If we learn to do good early on, we will receive the reward of eternal life. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What does the song “Karma” teach young people? 2. What is most striking about Jesus’s parable in the Scripture passage? 3. In your opinion, do most people see the need for a “rebirth” early on in life? Yes or no and why? 4. In your opinion, what does “Karma is a god” mean?’ 5. In your opinion, do most Christians follow the thought of giving to another?