karma

January 28
[media presentation below] GospelThink Wednesday, January 28 MARK 4:1-20 A Hundredfold Prayerthoughts a. If I consider the seed to be the Word of God spoken to me, how often do I truly listen to the Word of God in the Gospels? Should it not be “daily”? [In other words, am I cultivating my life to be “rich soil” for the Lord to act?] b. Considering my life, when do I not listen to the Word of God at all? c. Considering my life, when do I listen and promptly forget about the Word? d. Considering my life, when do I listen to the “world”—my own cares and situations—and thus miss any spiritual conclusions to what I should be doing? e. Is it a true statement to say that “Often I prefer to have the Word of God choked by the world in which I live”? f. Jesus’s statement that I ought to hear if I have ears is a statement of how important this story is. Why is it so important for my spiritual life? g. My prayerthoughts… Today, I will read 2 Samuel 7:4-17 and write an important thought from it.
Some Thoughts on the Liturgy THE WORD OF GOD + The Gospel lends itself to an easy meditation on how we listen to the Word of God - according to scholars, Jesus’ parable of the sower is as close as we have to the actual words of Jesus - Jesus, using an image that people could easily identify with, says that people listening to the word of God fall into four categories: the footpath people, the rocky ground people, the thorns people, and the rich soil people + The parable is about how we listen to the Word of God - and it is probably best to look at the four situations of the parable as four different ways that all of us listen to the Word of God and put it into practice in our lives - we interact with God in various ways at various times - at certain times, our attitudes toward God may be----- - totally non-committal and we do not listen to what should be in our lives, what should be as the Word of God describes it—the footpath in Jesus’ parable - or sometimes the pressure of day-to-day living waters down our approach to God, and we lose sight of the importance of God—the rocky ground in Jesus’ parable - or sometimes the anxieties, especially wealth and cravings of modern society—materialism—make us forget about God and what God wants—the thorns in the parable - or sometimes we really do listen to God, and take what God says to heart and even change our ways—the rich soil of the parable - this is the desired end of the spiritual life - what you and I should be striving for + The spiritual person will be a person who wants religion and God to be part of his/her life in much the same way that David’s people wanted to build a house for God in the first reading - we want to listen to the Word of God as if it really were the direction we want to go.

MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: "Karma" -- Taylor Swift KARMA IS A GOD

The Gospel

MATTHEW 25:31-46

Matthew 35:31-46

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 transformed, 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's 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 the teaching of their God--capital 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.

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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?

THE WORD OF GOD