Parish Missions

The World Turned Upside Down

Not in the dark of buildings confining

Not in some heaven, light years away,

But here in this place the new light is shining

Now is the kingdom, now is the day.

This fourth and final stanza of Marty Haugen’s popular hymn “Gather Us In” is rarely sung since Catholics, unlike our Protestant brothers and sisters, seem to have an aversion to singing all of the verses of a hymn. In the case of this hymn, that is particularly unfortunate, for Haugen has hit the mark in expressing the logical progression of the Liturgy it often introduces.

His hymn touches three essential elements of our worship, our lives as disciples, and even the Scriptures we’ve heard proclaimed today.

First, the gathering of which we sing is cosmic in dimension. There is the implication that it is not just this one faith community, but the entire People of God that gathers at this moment and in this spirit. This cosmic dimension is also evident in the inclusivity of the gatherings:

We are the young—our lives are a mystery,

We are the old—who long for your face,

We have been sung throughout all of his-t’ry,

Called to be light for the whole human race.

Gather us in the lost and forsaken

Gather us in the blind and the lame….

Gather us in the rich and the haughty

Gather us in the proud and the strong….

Secondly, the hymn places the Eucharist at the center of our lives, as the source and summit of our lived experience. It is our celebration of the memorial of Christ’s profound act of love that guides and directs us to

…fashion lives that are holy

and hearts that are true.

Finally and most importantly, Haugen places the-here-and-now in the context of the Reign of God. Or better, places the Reign of God in the-here-and-now! Not in some heaven, light years away, but here in the real world. He echoes Vatican II theologian Karl Rahner who offered a cosmic view of our Sunday worship as the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and “the Liturgy of the World.”

This very progression of ideas in the hymn speaks not just to the Eucharistic Liturgy in general, it also is representative of the specific themes of the Scriptures proclaimed today: the upside down perspective of the ultimate “gathering in.”

This liturgy, this cosmic act of worship, includes a Scripture that addresses both the Blessed and what might be called the Woes. This saying of Jesus, known as the “sermon on the plain,” is not intended to discriminate or polarize. That would be so out of character for Jesus, who is here addressing not just the crowds but a large number of his faithful disciples. The Woes are not condemned; they are “lamented” or “cautioned.” They are offered invitations; they are given challenges. But make no mistake about it: in doing this Jesus is turning his world and ours upside down!

In citing the blessings of the poor, the hungry, the sorrowing and the marginalized, Jesus is offering the Woes in his audience, and us, a course of action, a way to associate ourselves with the coming Reign of God. For us it means to disassociate who we are from our possessions. This is clearly a major challenge, and one that demands our constant attention. Whenever we allow that which we have, whether it’s possessions or prestige, to possess us, we run the risk of being trapped by allowing these to control our lives, permitting them to become an end rather than a means.

What we need constantly to remind ourselves is that we, in this culture, are the Woes of the Gospel. That doesn’t mean we are being condemned. It means that Jesus is very concerned about us. He laments that we, because of our wealth and position in the world, may forget that we have been given a higher calling than this world affords. St. Paul reminds us of this higher calling; we are destined for greater things:

If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,

we are the most pitiable people of all.

Marty Haugen’s beautiful hymn captures this essential element of our Liturgy and our lives as disciples of Jesus:

Here you shall call your sons and your daughters,

call us anew to be salt for the earth.

So in this Liturgy we pray in song, the Blessed and the Woes together:

Gather us in and hold us forever,

Gather us in and make us your own;

Gather us in all peoples together

Fire of love in our flesh and our bone.