Homily given at an ordination

Deuteronomy 30: 11 - 14; Psalm 19: 7 - 14; Romans 10: 8b - 18; Matthew 4: 18 - 22

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Wednesday, November 30, 2011, on the occasion of the ordination of Chaplain David William Peters to the Sacred Order of Deacons.

“FOLLOW ME!”

(Homily text:  Matthew 4: 18 - 22)
 
            (Introductory remarks:  It is a great honor to be the preacher on this wonderful occasion, a day that many who are present here tonight have longed for and have waited for for a very long time now.  Our paths to ministry, Chaplain David’s and mine, have involved very similar routes, for each of us began our journeys in the evangelical/fundamental part of the body of Christ, but we each found our way to the wonderful riches of the Episcopal Church and to the Anglican family.  Each of us have served/are serving in the U.S. Army, and that service took us to Washington, D. C. and to Christ Church, Georgetown, whose Rector, Fr. Stuart Kenworthy (who is here tonight), was a guide along the way for us both.  And then, those respective paths led to the Diocese of Springfield, and to ordained ministry within this Diocese.)

            “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people,” the Lord said to Andrew and to his better known brother, Simon Peter.

            Immediately, they left their nets and followed him.

            On that day along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus’ recruiting station set up shop, and that day He got four new recruits to join him in service to Him and to God.

            It is interesting to read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ call to these four, for there were no advertising banners which read, “Join up today, learn a new skill, travel to new and exciting places, meet new and interesting people.”

            Maybe it’s a good thing that none of that was passed before their eyes.

            Maybe it’s just as well that Jesus didn’t tell them about the rough road that would lie ahead, for that road led to a cross for these two brothers….Tradition tells us that Simon Peter was crucified upside down, while Andrew was crucified on an X shaped cross (known as St. Andrew’s Cross to this day) in Greece.

            Considering the hardships that they would face once their three years of basic training were over, perhaps it was best that they simply dropped their nets and walked away from their family business to follow this compelling, charismatic person called Jesus, no questions asked.

            Anytime someone steps forward to take the oath of enlistment, it’s probably best not to think too much about the road ahead, and what difficulties, trials and dangers might lie in the pathway.

            Life as an infantryman involves a lot of time outside, spent in the cold, the heat, the mud, the insects, the creepy-crawlies, and that sort of thing.  Of course, the manual which described the qualifications for being an infantryman didn’t say a word about those things.

            Life as a disciple of Jesus involves self denial, the willingness to suffer the loss of all things (Simon and Andrew – along with the other disciples – gave up everything to follow the Lord), to be willing to suffer rejection, deprivation, physical hardships, and yes, even death.

            Of course, new recruits in the army have to pass certain standards in order to get into the service in the first place.  I recall vividly many years ago when I was an infantryman reading the standards that a person had to meet in order to serve as an infantryman.  The standards had the usual stuff in them:  the ability to carry so many pounds, flexibility enough to surmount obstacles, 20/40 vision in one eye (corrected)……20/40 vision in one eye, corrected? That was enough to qualify?  I remember asking myself, “Who’d want to serve alongside a guy who could only see (sort of) out of one eye?”

            Maybe Jesus knew all about the qualifications of these two brothers, Simon and Andrew, as He asked them follow along.  If He didn’t perceive their strengths and weaknesses at the beginning, it probably didn’t take long to find them out.

            For one thing, Simon Peter’s spiritual vision wasn’t too good, for he would seem to really “get it” at one moment, only to turn around and be blind in the next.

            And perhaps the Lord noticed that Simon seemed to have a much more passionate disposition than his brother, Andrew.  At least that’s the sense I get from the portrait we have in Holy Scripture of Andrew.

            But we do get the sense that Andrew had a gift for bringing people together, and a special gift for bringing people to God….the Fourth Gospel, for example, tells us that Andrew was the one who told his brother that “We have found the Messiah (which means Christ).” (John 1: 41).  It was Andrew who brought the boy with the five loaves and two fish to the Lord at the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6: 8).  And it was Andrew, along with Philip, who brought some Greeks to see Jesus (John 12: 22).

            Andrew and the others made it through their basic training, sitting at the Lord’s feet, hearing Him teach and preach, watching Him perform miracles, setting the Pharisees and the keepers of the law right.  No one failed to make it through – except for Judas, that is.

            And then came the time for these disciples to be promoted to be apostles, and to be sent out to the various places they were to serve, carrying the good news with them.  We know that they were sent out to make disciples of all nations.  St. Andrew, tradition tells us, went as far as Kiev in the Ukraine….That’s a long way from the Holy Land and the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

            As we said a moment ago, St. Andrew was crucified.  Tradition tells us that he lived for two days, tied to his X shaped cross, using those last breaths to continue to preach the gospel, until his last breath came.  Andrew was faithful, right to the end.

            The saints we honor on days of ordination carry unique meaning for us, for their pattern of life inspires and shapes the ministries that we undertake at ordination.

            St. Andrew provides a rich example for you today, Chaplain Dave, on the occasion of your ordination as a Deacon.  Andrew’s gift for bringing people together is an essential gift that all soldiers of Christ must have, according to the gifts that we individually possess.  Andrew’s gift for persevering through dangers, difficulties and tribulations also inspires us to persevere, and to conquer, as we follow Jesus and take up our cross to follow Him.

            So, as you are promoted this night, it’s important to also remember that you are being demoted at the same time.  As you advance in rank within the body of Christ, the commitment to be the servant of God and of God’s people also deepens correspondingly. 

            As a Deacon, your concern will be for the helpless of the world, for making the needs of the world known to the Church, and to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.  These added responsibilities will become a permanent part of the ministry that is entrusted to you tonight, and these responsibilities will continue – God willing - once you are ordained as Priest

            This servant/leader model is Jesus’ example, to be sure, and it is Andrew’s as well.

            Many of those who have served to bring you to this occasion have taken up the role that Andrew filled, for they have had a part in bringing you to this point.  Quite a few are present this night to witness this event.  Our prayer would be that the Holy Spirit would enable and strengthen you to carry out these new duties as you look to Jesus for your example and strength, inspired by the life, work and witness of that faithful apostle, Andrew, as well.

AMEN.

1 Advent, Year B

Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1–7, 16-18; I Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, November 27, 2011.

“HURRY UP AND WAIT”

(Homily text:  Mark 13: 24 - 37)

 “Hurry up and wait.”

No doubt, if you’ve spent time in the military, you’ve heard this phrase, and have probably used it yourself.

Use of the phrase isn’t limited to veterans, however….I’ve often heard it used in non-military settings, as well.

Waiting, and hurrying to get to the place of waiting, are a fact of life….we wait in lines here and there quite frequently, don’t we?  And sometimes, we hurry to get to the place where we will wait for awhile.

The two ideas:  hurrying and waiting, come together in this season of Advent.

Hurrying implies being busy doing something (in the military, it usually involved getting ready to do something), while waiting carries with it the sense that someone else is in charge (otherwise, we wouldn’t be waiting, if we’d had our own way, would we?).

In this holy season of preparation, a season in which we prepare to receive Jesus Christ again at the great Feast of the Nativity (Christmas), we are to be busy, getting our hearts and our minds in a condition so that He might take up residence and be born in our hearts anew.

We are also to be busy, getting ready for the Lord’s eventual return at the close of the age.  It is that time when He will come in judgment.

These two themes:  Preparing for the Lord Jesus Christ’s first coming at Christmas, and preparing for His eventual coming at the close of the age, constitute the two great themes of the Advent season.

Having mentioned the word “judgment”, we ought to pause here for a moment and have a look at our gospel text for today, from Mark, chapter thirteen.

Notice the foreboding language:  “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken….”

Here, Jesus uses traditional language which carries with it a clear sense of God’s judgment.  Darkened skies, the light of the sun and of the moon failing, these things (and others) are meant to set up in the listeners’ minds the fact that God is coming to judge.

Jesus’ language is drawn from a well-established tradition, and uses much the same language that the ancient prophets used to describe God’s coming judgment.  (We can see the same sort of language in Joel 2: 15, 2:31, and 3:15, for example.)

If God is bringing His judgment, His coming judgment, in the return of Christ, who is King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17: 14 and 19:16), then what are we to be doing as we wait for that day to come?

Christians down through the ages have come to different conclusions as they await that day.  Some approaches among the family of God have included:

Watching the skies and waiting:  From the earliest days of Christianity, this approach has been present.  It was a significant problem for the early Christians in Thessolonika, so much so that St. Paul had to admonish those who were sitting around, waiting for the Lord to return.  He told them bluntly to not be idle, saying “For even when we were with you, we gave you this command:  If anyone will not work, let him not eat.  For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, more busybodies, not doing any work.  Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living.”  (II Thessalonians 3: 10 – 12)  So some have wished that day would come by sitting and waiting for it to happen, doing little (or nothing) else in the meantime.  Alas, as we look around the body of Christ today, we can see evidence that some believers are taking the same path, for they seem to focus quite heavily on the coming age, to the exclusion of the present time in which we live.

Being about the business of ministry:  Other Christians have tended to focus almost exclusively on the work that God would have us do in the time and place in which we live.  Social outreach ministries take a prominent place in these Christians’ lives and work.  As important and vital as such ministries are, the danger is that, oftentimes, such a focus can tend to push an awareness of the coming day of judgment toward the back of our minds.  In extreme cases, the reality of the coming judgment is dismissed as an ancient belief practice that is couched in traditional language, language that was common in ancient times.  Such a view tends to see the language that we encounter in today’s gospel text primarily in figurative terms.

Holding the two realities in tension:  A third way of approaching the business of being ready for the Lord’s eventual return is to hold that day in view at all times, while being about the business that God has set before us in the day in which we live, and in the settings where we find ourselves.  The two realities thus come together, and are held in tension.  Such an approach tends to see that both realities are not mutually exclusive concerns, that the need for watching and waiting and for productive uses of our time are to be held in truth alongside one another.

How then might we hold the two realities in tension with one another, living as mature believers in Christ?

I think the word “mature” is to be a key aspect of our approach.

For us to come to a mature faith in Christ, we must recognize that it is the Lord’s first coming does two things for us:

1. His first coming brings us into a right relationship with God.  God’s love is seen in the coming of Jesus Christ.  Christ came so that His death on the cross might pay the penalty for our sins.  We are able to become righteous in the sight of God, as a result.
2. Jesus’ first coming presents us with the blueprint for living a life that is pleasing to God.  Consider the pattern of life that He provides as we think about the things He did in His earthly ministry: 

• His care for the poor, the downtrodden, the sick, the lonely, the destitute, 
• His teachings, which cast light on God the Father’s nature and His will for us, 
• His miracles, which demonstrate that God’s very presence was made manifest in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Truly, as He said in John 14: 9b, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

Put another way then, we can say that Jesus’ first coming allows us to prepare for His second coming, and for the coming judgment.

But in between that first and the second one, God’s judgment comes to us, day-by-day, situation-by-situation, as we either choose to live by Jesus’ example, or not.  And as we do so, we are already under judgment.  In this sense then, time collapses as God’s eternal time blurs the lines of time as we know it.

So, let us “hurry up” and be concerned with the work God would have us to do in Christ’s name, while we wait for His coming in power and great glory.

AMEN.

Last Sunday after Pentecost Year A

Proper 26 -- Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24; Psalm 100; Ephesians 1:15–23; Matthew 25:31–46

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, November 20, 2011.

"THE ‘BIG PICTURE’ MEETS THE ‘LITTLE PICTURE'”

            “Lord, when did we see thee hungry?”

            A week ago Friday, I took part in our Sr. High youth retreat, called “Happening”, which was held at the Cathedral in Springfield.  As is normal for these weekends, the adult and teen staff arrive early, before the candidates who will go through the weekend.

            Many of us had arrived, and were getting organized for the weekend’s activities, when there was a knock on the door of the Parish House.  Someone answered the door, and outside stood a family:  a dad, a mom, and two young girls, who looked to be less than six years old.  They said they walked over from their home, and that they had nothing to eat.  They said they’d heard that they could get some food at the Cathedral.

            We felt helpless.  We were all from other places, and didn’t know what resources there were in Springfield to help this family.

            Out of our confused state, someone had the presence of mind to ask the family to come inside, out of the cold.  Once inside, the mother said that she was pregnant, and that she was on medication. She held up an IV tube that she said she needed for medication she was taking.

            Not long afterward, someone who was a member of the Cathedral came by.  He said he was familiar with the area, and could find some way to help.  We assured the family that, one way or another, we would find a way to help them.

            In the week and a half since then, I have thought about that family quite a bit.  I wondered what other needs they had?  Were their young daughters going to school somewhere?  Did they have heat in their home?  Why were they without food?  Did the husband lose his job, or did some other catastrophic event come into their lives.

            Lots of prayer has also taken place since that encounter, as well.

            And the words of today’s gospel have passed through my mind and heart quite a bit as well:  “As you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”

            In today’s gospel, Jesus concludes a series of teachings, all of which have to do with “last things”.  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory,” we hear Him say.

            These “last things”, that glorious time when God’s purposes and plans will be fully known, are never far from Matthew’s mind as he records Jesus’ teachings, His miracles, and His victory over death.

            The image that Jesus paints for us is a cosmic one…it is the picture of Jesus, seated as king on His throne, judging the nations.  It is the image that our reading from Ephesians also paints, that of the cosmic Christ, reigning with power and great glory.

            But let’s return to Matthew for a moment.

            As important as it is to remember that Matthew never seems to entirely lose sight of the “big picture”, he never loses sight of the everyday, the here-and-the-now, either.  The mundane is never far from Matthew’s mind as he records Jesus’ teachings and His holy life.  They are present in Matthew’s record of Jesus, who is “God with us” (that is, Emmanuel), because a practical concern for everyday conduct was never far from Jesus’ mind.

            You see, the two are present in Matthew’s account in a way that is unique.  The “big picture” of God’s plan intersects with the “little picture” of daily living that make up everyday living. 

            What happens in the everyday carries with it implications for eternity.

            Our relationship with God is dependent upon our conduct in daily life.  That is Matthew’s unique focus.

            We walk with God, day-by-day.

            And as we do, God is watching, taking stock of our actions, and our motivations for acting (the Lord expounds on the connection between outer actions and inner motivations in His Sermon on the Mount – see Matthew, chapters five to seven).

            As we come to the aid of those in need, visiting those in prison, clothing those who need covering, feeding those – like the family we encountered a week ago – who need food, we are affirming our connectedness in Christ.

            For it is the Lord who said, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of you.”  (Matthew 18:20).  As we support others in need, we are serving not only them, but Christ…. “As you did it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

            To some ears, this understanding of relating to God might seem strange.  After all, isn’t the business of being saved a matter of God’s grace, first of all, and then, our response, made in faith, second of all?

            Isn’t the business of being saved most concretely stated in John 3:16?  Hear those words again:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end that all who believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

            Yes, God’s initiative of grace, and our response in faith, makes it possible for us to come into a close and personal relationship with God.  Certainly that is the understanding that we can glean from the Fourth Gospel.

            But then what?

            What happens after we receive God’s grace and come to believe in Jesus Christ’s saving power, becoming sons and daughters of God?

            How do we live our lives after that event takes place?

             That’s were Matthew’s gospel provides the blueprint….Maybe we could call Matthew’s gospel account a “recipe for daily living”, for that is where much of its focus lies.

            To comprehend the fullness of the gospel in its entirety, no one approach can do justice to all the implications of the coming of Jesus Christ.

            We relate to God through the saving power of Jesus Christ, which we receive by faith (see John 3:16, quoted above).  We also relate to God by following Jesus’ teachings.  The two ways of relating to God are not mutually exclusive, but are necessary to fully understand the ways that we relate to Him.

            Concentrating on God’s grace and our response of faith alone won’t capture the importance of our daily conduct.  For our deeds and not so much our words will point the way to Christ.  St. Francis of Assisi said it well:  “Preach the gospel, if necessary, use words.”

            Today’s gospel text reminds us of the “big picture”, namely that Christ will come again (a truth we affirm each Sunday as we recite the Nicene Creed).   This is, of course, an Advent theme, as well…for the season of Advent asks us to prepare for Christ’s first coming (His birth in Bethlehem), and to prepare for His second coming at the end of time.  (So, in this sense, the Church Year ends where it begins, by focusing on Christ’s coming again.)

            Today’s gospel text also reminds us that our daily conduct is an outward manifestation of the inner disposition of our hearts, hearts that have turned to God through faith in Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, which brings us into right relationship with God the Father.

            St. Francis’ words carry with them an immense truth:  “Preach the gospel, if necessary, use words.”

AMEN.

           

22 Pentecost, Year A

Proper 28 -- Judges 4:1-7; Psalm 123; I Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, November 13, 2011, by Mr. Barney Bruce, Licensed Lay Worship Leader.

“FUND MANAGERS”
(Homily texts:  I Thessalonians 5: 1 – 12 and Matthew 25: 14 – 30)

In every age and in every time, managers of money are important people.  We trust them to look after the money we’ve put into their hands to manage properly.  And every so often, we ask them for an accounting of how well they are doing.

This was true in the first century, and it is true in the twenty first century.

Management of what has been placed into our hands is the central theme of Jesus’ parable about the Talents, heard this morning.

But it is also about the reckoning each one of us will have to give to God for our management of what’s been given to us.

Sooner or later, we will be called to account for what we’ve done, and how well we’ve done it.  That sense is never very far away from Matthew’s mind as he writes down what Jesus said and did.  Page after page in Matthew’s gospel account, the final end of all things pops up, again and again.

In fact, today’s gospel reading allows us to hear the middle of three parables, all of which have to do with the final judgment, when God will call all of us to account.

Our Lord provokes us to consider just how important it is for us to use what God has given us. 

We are to use it wisely. 

We are to use it by taking risks, according to our individual ability.

We are to go against the conventional wisdom, which would encourage us to “play it safe” with what God has given.

But I am getting a little ahead of myself.  We should turn to the text and make a few comments about it.  Then, we can make some applications to our own lives.

As we look at the text, it’s important to notice two things about the Master’s actions in placing the talents in the hands of his servants:

1.  He gives each servant an amount, “according to their ability”.  

2.  Notice that Jesus doesn’t tell us what the Master said to each servant.  He doesn’t tell us if the Master told each servant that the amount he was being given was in accordance with his ability.  We are left to wonder exactly how the transfer took place.  I think that’s important for our own reflection.

(Jesus is a wonderful storyteller.  The details of each parable are important to notice as we read the text.)

The next thing we ought to notice is the use of the word “talent”.  In biblical times, a talent was a large sum of money.  In today’s language, we might use the phrase “a million dollars”.  But the word “talent” eventually came to mean our abilities and gifts.  The change in meaning came about because of the use of the biblical word “talent” in old English translations. The connection between its use in this parable and its current meaning is direct.  The dictionary confirms the connection between the two meanings.

Now, we come to the behavior of the servant who got one talent.

That servant followed the conventional wisdom of the first century in burying the money.  In biblical times, sources outside the Bible tell us, the most secure way to hold onto something was to bury it.  If it was stolen later on, then the individual wasn’t responsible for its loss.  (If the person hid the money in a cloth, and it was stolen, then they were responsible.)

Now the method of securing the money by burying it seems strange to us, I suspect.  After all, what if someone saw the servant bury the money, or came along shortly afterward and saw signs of digging, and stole the buried treasure? 

But remember that this is an age in which there were no bankers (the Revised Standard Version’s translation is less-than-desirable here, for the better translation is “moneychangers”), and no Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Furthermore, locks were unknown, and so securing something meant posting a guard over it, so no one would come along and steal it.  At least if the treasure was buried somewhere, and no one else knew the location, it was more secure than it would be any other way, short of guarding it.

Jesus’ point is that the third servant followed the conventional wisdom of the day, and refused to take risks.  That much of Jesus’ meaning seems clear.

Let’s apply the lessons from Jesus’ parable to our situation today.

We have been given talents (here the various meanings of the word apply:  money, gifts and abilities) to manage.  This homily could easily turn into a stewardship sermon, since we are in the midst of our annual campaign to plan for the use of our gifts, abilities and money for the coming year.

Management of those talents is going to involve risk.  We are going to need to figure out how to best use what’s been put into our hands.  Notice that the Master’s instructions to the servants are virtually non-existent.  We made a remark about that a minute ago.  That detail in Jesus’ story is important, it seems to me.

In essence, what God is saying to us is this:  “Here, take care of this while I’m away.”  But then, I think, He expects us to figure out what is best to do.  In that sense, we are using our gifts and abilities, our talents, to figure out the best course of action.

And, I think, it’s important to remember that God will give us our talents in direct measure to our ability to handle those talents.  Notice that Jesus says that each servant was given an amount “to each according to his ability”.  I don’t get the sense that God will hold us accountable for things that are beyond our abilities.  But, it will involve risk, that much is sure!

Finally, an accounting is to be made.  In everyday life today, we hold our fund managers accountable at regular intervals, reviewing the accounts to see how well they are being managed. 

In God’s accounting, we are being held accountable for our use of our gifts, abilities and talents day-by-day.   

It would be good for us to ask ourselves, “How well am I doing?  Am I a good and faithful servant, who has been faithful in a little?”

For God holds us accountable.  His accounting takes place in the here-and-now, and it will take place at the end of time, as well.

AMEN.

All Saints' Sunday, Year A

Proper 26 -- Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1–10, 22; I John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, November 6, 2011.

“SAINTS”

            Are you a saint?

            Do you know any living saints?

            What is a saint, anyway?

            Today is All Saints’ Sunday.  It is the only feast in the Church Year which may be moved from the day on which it falls during the week (always November 1^st) to the following Sunday.  Last week, All Saints’ Day came on November 1^st, and it was followed by All Souls’ Day (November 2^nd).

            So, this is the season for remembering with thanks the saints of God, the major ones and the lesser-known ones, on All Saints’ Day.  It is also the season for remembering those saints who have now passed from this life into eternal life with God, on All Souls’ Day.

            This homily will be a brief study in sainthood.  We would do well, then, to begin with a definition of the word “saint”:

            1.  Any of certain persons of exceptional holiness of life, formally recognized as such by the Christian Church, esp. by canonization.  2.  A person of great holiness, virtue, or benevolence.  3.  A founder, sponsor, or patron, as of a movement or organization.  4.  In certain religious groups, a designation applied to themselves.  5.  To enroll formally among the saints recognized by the Church.  6.  To give the name of saint, to reckon as a saint.[1]

            Of course, if we look carefully, we can see that the word “saint” comes to us from Latin.  In fact, the same root word comes to us in its original Latin form as Sanctus in our liturgy, meaning “holy”.  The meaning of the word “saint” conveys that same sense of holiness, as we can see in the definition provided above.

            With a good definition of the word in hand, let’s turn now to some reflections on saints and sainthood.

            The first observation we might make is that saints become saints because of the process of being saved, or salvation.  This is a three-step process, which unfolds this way:

            1.  Justification:  When we come to God in faith, and enter the waters of baptism, the stain of the sin that we were born with (called “original sin”) is washed away in the waters of baptism.  In God’s sight, we become sinless, for Christ’s death atones for our sins, and makes it possible for us to be in an intimate and right relationship with God.  The word “justification” carries with it a legal sense in which the penalty for our wrongdoings is paid by Christ’s death.  

Being justified in God’s sight allows the process of sainthood to begin.

            2.  Sanctification:  (Notice that the word “sanctification” has the word that Latin word Sanctus contained within it.)  Once we are in a right relationship with God, having come to Him in faith, having entered the waters of baptism, we can now begin a walk with God, one day at a time.  Gradually, by the power of the Holy Spirit which is given and received at baptism, we begin to take on more and more Christ-like virtues.  Our old, sinful nature begins to fade away, and our new, Christ-like nature grows in prominence.

As we grow in holiness of life, sainthood becomes more and more noticeable.

            3.  Glorification:  When our earthly life is over, we enter into God’s promises and into God’s presence.  We are provided with a glorified body (St. Paul attempts to describe this wonderful new existence in chapter fifteen of his first letter to the Corinthians).  The cloak of sin which had so closely clung to us throughout our earthly life is finally and completely cast aside.

Once our earthly life is over, sainthood often becomes very easy to see.

            The next observation we ought to make is that the Church is in the business of being a saint-making factory.  Not only does the Church encourage those within to enter the waters of baptism, but it also encourages those who are now members of the Body of Christ to begin the process of sanctification outlined above.  Holiness of life, holiness in speech and in deeds is the goal of every mature Christian, so that the light of Christ might shine brightly in this otherwise-darkened and lost world.  As a saint-making factory, we observe each other as we walk the Christian walk, and we encourage one another by our actions and with our words to become Christ-like, slowly by surely, over time.  We see God at work in each other’s lives, so that we can see God at work in similar ways in our own lives.  Yes, the Church is a sort of spiritual laboratory.

            Let’s return to the matter of sanctification as we make this next observation about saints and sainthood:  Being saintly isn’t a matter of being sin-free.  Far from it.  Even St. Paul, writing in Romans, chapter seven, laments his own sinfulness, and the tendency that he has to commit sin.  “Wretched man that I am,” he says in desperation.  No, a saint isn’t one who never commits sin, or even contemplates doing so.  A saint is a person who has entered into a covenant with God through baptism, has become a righteous person in God’s sight as a result (see the definition of justification given above), and who now seeks to follow God in righteousness of life, day-by-day.  When sin or temptation comes along, as it surely will, the righteous person will seek God’s forgiveness for the sin which has been committed, and will seek the assistance of the Holy Spirit to ward off temptation, in order to amend one’s life and to seek to live more closely with God’s desires for holiness.  When the saintly person seeks God’s forgiveness and seeks to amend one’s life, then the covenant of righteousness is maintained and strengthened.

            The matter of sainthood involves a struggle against the “default position” of the human condition.  As a person struggles to overcome the temptations that beset all of us, temptations to be bigoted, judgmental, greedy, or to exploit others (for example), the victories won over these and other sorts of sinful conditions become the markers of a saint.  For example, know someone who’s conquered an addiction that is ruining their lives?  With the help of God, they just might be a saint!

            Oftentimes, saints can’t keep their sainthood a secret, as much as they might try, for their deeds give them away.  Their words betray the holiness of life that resides within their hearts.  Saints of this quiet and unobtrusive sort are often the most precious of all, for their modesty enhances the holy qualities of humility that are woven throughout their lives.

            Saints.  Saints with a big “S’, saints with a little “s”, all seek to come into a right relationship with God through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.  Saints seek to follow Christ, loving God, loving their neighbors, and loving themselves, too.  And once this life is done, they enter into the glory which has been prepared for them, where the holiness of God that His saints have searched for throughout this life is seen, face-to-face.

            May God be praised for these, His saints, in times past and the present time.

 AMEN.

           

           

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[1]   New York:Barnes & Noble, Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, 2003