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<P><FONT size=4>From “Fiddler on the Roof”:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Then came the third daughter, and it was the same story all over
again. Not only did she not use the matchmaker; but worse yet, in fact the
worse thing that ever could happen to a Jewish family, was that she fell in love
with a non-Jew, with a Gentile. With a Bolshevik soldier. And to
marry a non-Jew, a Gentile, that was the unforgivable sin. Now, when this
young couple came to Tevye and announced their intentions, Tevye could bend no
further. He refused to give his daughter in marriage; he refused to bless
her; he kicked her out of the house; he declared her as dead; her name was never
to be mentioned again in his home; and so his deeply loved daughter was
lost. His daughter was now dead to Tevye.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Much later, at the very end of the story, the revolution was
starting in Russia, and the Jews, including Tevye and Golda, were fleeing to
America. This historic Jewish family was being fractured, never to see
each other again. And then comes the last scene, the most touching scene
of the whole movie. The whole family said good-bye to each other, and
suddenly the youngest daughter and her Bolshevik husband walk forward, coming
from nowhere, and standing outside the family gate, to say the last goodbye to
her father. And perhaps, just perhaps, to be blessed by him.
Perhaps, just perhaps, to be at peace with the man she so deeply
loved.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Tevye was caught. What should he do? He had vowed
that his daughter was dead, that he would never speak with her again, now
he was caught. And he needed to say goodbye to that daughter. And
finally, in despair, Tevye turned his back on his daughter. He turned away
from her, and he bent over the fence in brokenness and in grief. No
blessing, No peace. And the story ends tragically.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>“Fiddler on the Roof” is a story about a good man, Tevye, whose
traditions are more important to him that the commandment to love and forgive as
God loves and forgives. </FONT></P>
<P><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_tradition_fiddler_on_the_roof.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_tradition_fiddler_on_the_roof.htm</FONT></A></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Edward F. Markquart</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT><BR><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=4>A friend of mine, a Dominican priest, puts a finer point on it.
Good people, he says, are more likely to be tempted by what is best about them
than by what is worst. In a world that badly needs change, how many times have
we good people let the warm glow of our acts of charity shield us from the
disturbing risk of the change we need to make? In a church that badly needs to
demonstrate its integrity, how many times have we good people wounded each other
with the opinions and judgements we wield?</FONT></P>
<P><A href="http://covenantnetwork.org/sermon&papers/spaulding.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://covenantnetwork.org/sermon&papers/spaulding.htm</FONT></A></P>
<P><FONT size=4>The Rev. Richard E. Spalding, 2004</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Is the church primarily holy space, separate from the world in
its confusion, or is the church a launching pad for service and a gathering
place for the least and the lost?</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4><></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Jesus and the Pharisees were arguing a very basic point. What do
faithful people do to be faithful? What are the interests of God and how do we
serve them? Ritual is important and so is the manner and the degree to which we
are distinct from the world around us. There can be no doubt about that. The
Pharisees have a good point. Jesus seems to be saying that engagement with the
world is even more important. </FONT></P>
<P><A href="http://day1.org/500-what_matters_to_god"><FONT
size=4>http://day1.org/500-what_matters_to_god</FONT></A></P>
<P><FONT size=4>The Rev. Dr. Francis H. Wade, former rector of St. Alban's
Episcopal Church, Washington, DC, 2003</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>... maybe our deepest fear is that our status quo is not so
good anyway. Our deepest fear is that there really is uncleanness in us and we
are afraid to face it. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4><A
href="http://day1.org/666-why_dont_you_wash_your_hands">http://day1.org/666-why_dont_you_wash_your_hands</A></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>The Very Rev. Samuel G. Candler, Dean of the Cathedral of St.
Philip, Atlanta, GA, 2000 </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>You and I know that Jesus was not advocating eating with dirty
hands in our gospel reading for today. The lesson is not really about hand
washing at all -- it is about fault-finding and nitpicking. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4><></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT size=4>Professor Charles Neilson, a Presbyterian pastor and
teacher of Church History, compared some modern Christians with the scribes and
Pharisees of Jesus' time and said, <I>"Their difficulty is that they are trying
to be more religious than God."</I> </FONT></P>
<P align=left><A href="http://www.lectionarysermons.com/sep.03.00.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.lectionarysermons.com/sep.03.00.htm</FONT></A></P>
<P align=left><FONT size=4>John Jewell,<SPAN lang=en-us> 2000</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT size=4>What does God want. Well said the
man, the [new Pope] wants all those women off the altar. Women should be reading
the scriptures or distributing Communion, or directing music, not even if
they’re nuns. Indeed, said the pastor. And he should put the mass back into
Latin, that’s God’s language. Why did we have to change it. Actually said the
pastor, maybe it should go back into Aramaic.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><A
href="http://www.agreeley.com/hom09/aug30.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.agreeley.com/hom09/aug30.htm</FONT></A></SPAN></P>
<P align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT size=4>Andrew M. Greeley,
2009</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT color=#400000 size=4>After the wedding
party processed up the aisle and before the ceremony began, the celebrant made
an announcement. Only baptized Catholics in the state of grace would be allowed
to receive Holy Communion during the Eucharistic celebration. Anyone who had
committed a mortal sin and had not received absolution from a priest should not
approach the altar. <> One guest, herself very active in her own parish
community, observed, wryly, that it was interesting that the only cardinal sin
mentioned was lust. Could it be that if he mentioned all the possible
manifestations of all the deadly sins, no one would be permitted to approach the
altar?</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT color=#400000 size=4><A
href="http://www.agreeley.com/homilies00/sept03.htm">http://www.agreeley.com/homilies00/sept03.htm</A></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT size=4><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT size=4>Andrew
M. Greeley, 2000</FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT size=4><SPAN lang=en-us>- - - -
-</SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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