The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, Year B

Isaiah 52: 7 - 10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1: 1 - 12; John 1: 1 - 14

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Christmas Day, December 25, 2011.

“BIG PICTURE, LITTLE PICTURE”

(Homily texts:  Hebrews 1: 1 – 12 & John 1: 1 - 14)

            “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,  He was in the beginning with God; all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1: 1 – 5)

            “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form and void, and the darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.  And God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.”  (Genesis 1: 1 – 2)

            Scholars have long noticed the parallels between these two texts.

            Some common threads bind them together:

                        1.  “In the beginning…”                    

                        2.  Unity between God and God’s word

                        3.  The creative power of God’s word

                        4.  Light and darkness

            When applied to the “Word” as it is used in John’s gospel account, the person who is referred to as the “Word” is Jesus Christ (we read a bit later on in the first chapter of John…see verse 17).

            So it is Jesus Christ who is with God “in the beginning”.

            We could safely say that John is describing the “big picture”….Here is the creator of the universe, the world, and everything that is in it, that is, Jesus Christ.  Our reading from the Letter to the Hebrews affirms the same reality as it says that “God has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the world.”  The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews goes on to say that the Son “upholds the universe by his word of power.”  (Notice the use of “word” again here.)

            Theologians have a term that is used to describe Jesus Christ’s unity with the Father, the idea that Jesus Christ is fully God…they call this “High Christology”.[1]

            Now the awesome thing is this:  That the creator of the universe would come to take on our humanity, seeking each and every one of us out, so that he can establish a relationship with you and me.

            Wow!

            It might be easy to think that God would only care about the “big picture”, you know, things like forming the world, making sure that everything worked together well, etc.

            He is concerned about all that “big” stuff, true.

            But he’s also concerned with the “little” stuff, that is, you and me.

            To see how this is described, we need to return to John’s text….

            “The true light that enlightens every man (and woman) was coming into the world….But to all who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God…” (John 1: 9, 12)

            Notice the concern with “every man (and woman)”.

            Notice also that the initiative is entirely God’s….the text says that the Word “gave power” to become children of God.

            The God who creates is also the God who seeks us out….“every man (and woman)”. 

            Big picture, little picture.

            It should be obvious that each and every one of us is highly prized and highly loved, for God seeks us out, shining the light of His love on us by the coming of Jesus Christ.

            Perhaps by now, you’re wondering why the God who made everything that is would be concerned with little-old-you-and-me.  A think a lot of people wonder why that is so.  To some degree or another, that reality is wrapped up in the mystery of who God is.

            But the undeniable fact is that God continues to care for everything He has created.  Hebrews affirms this reality as it says that Jesus Christ “upholds the universe by his word of power.”  So, He upholds us, as part of the creation.

            If ever we are tempted to be a bit depressed, the reality of God’s love, concern and care for us should lift us up out of the depths of our despair.  For God loves us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  He continues to love us, and nothing can separate us from that love (see Romans 8: 39).  That is one inescapable conclusion that we can draw from Jesus Christ’s death…that nothing, not even death, can separate us from God.  Jesus Christ has conquered death, our ultimate enemy.  His power to create is the power over death, as well.

            Praised be the God of all creation, whose eternal Word creates, enlightens and loves us, both now in this mortal life, and in the life of the world to come.

AMEN.

           

           

     

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[1]   By contrast, “Low Christology” has to do with Jesus Christ’s humanity.  The Church’s understanding is that Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human.  In the New Testament, the first three gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark and Luke) emphasize Jesus Christ’s humanity, so they exhibit a Low Christology”, while the Fourth Gospel exhibits a “High Christology”, as does the Letter to the Hebrews.

The Eve of the Nativity, Year B

Isaiah 9: 2 - 7; Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11 - 14; Luke 2: 1 - 20

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2011.

“BLESSINGS GIVEN, BLESSINGS RECEIVED”
(Homily text: Luke 2: 1 – 20) 

            We begin tonight with a bit of humor….

            A pizza delivery man in Rome (Italy) was speeding through the city.  By all contemporary Roman standards, this guy’s driving was “off the charts!”

            As he sped by, a Roman policeman saw him and gave chase.  Eventually, he caught up with the guy, and once he’d made his way over to the delivery man’s motorcycle, asked him why he was going so fast.

            The delivery man said, “Well, officer, you don’t understand.  I have the exclusive contract to deliver pizza to the Holy Father at the Vatican.  Now the Holy Father likes his pizza to be very hot and fresh, and so I drive as fast as I can so that it will be hot.”

            The policeman thought to himself, “Of all the excuses I’ve ever heard in my career, this is certainly one of the most creative.”  So the policeman said, “Well, your story doesn’t seem very believable, but just to be sure, I’m going to give you an escort to the Vatican.  If you’re lying to me, you’re going to go to jail.”

            So, two take off, the policeman clearing the way for the pizza and its deliverer.  They reach the Vatican, and the delivery man gets off his bike, walks up to the door of the Vatican, and knocks.  The door opens, and the Cardinal takes the pizza and disappears, leaving the delivery man standing at the door.

            The policeman is leaning on his bike, watching all this, and suddenly, a thought occurs to him, “I’ll bet that, since I gave this guy an escort, that that pizza got there in record time.  And, I’ll bet that the pizza is really hot and really fresh.  I’ll bet that the Holy Father really appreciated that, and I’ll bet he’ll be giving that delivery guy a big tip.  Since I gave him an escort, I think I ought to have half of his tip.”

            So the door opens again, the Cardinal greets the delivery man, and something happens between the two that the policeman can’t quite see.  The door closes, and the delivery man makes his way back to his motorbike and to the policeman.

            As he gets close enough, the policeman tells the delivery man about his plan, saying, “You know, I’ll bet that because I gave you an escort through town, that you got a really big tip from the Holy Father today.  Now I think you ought to give me half of your tip.”

            To which the delivery man says, “no problem, here it is…” 

            Gesturing to the policeman, the deliveryman makes half of the sign of the cross.

            It is Christmas Eve.  Would you like to have half of God’s blessing, or all of it?

            That’s the issue before us as we remember the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, tonight.

            For, you see, God showers all of His blessing on us by sending us His only Son, Jesus, to be born as a human being.  Put another way, we can say that “God got into the trenches with us” by entering human history, by immersing Himself fully in our human condition.

            But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

            We ought to define what a blessing is, in the first place….

            In the context of giving a blessing, we mean that God:

-           Bestows His divine favor on us.  There’s nothing we can do to earn that blessing.

-          Gives us a free gift in the sending of His Son.

-          Wants to give us the benefit of His presence with us.

            But God’s blessings, like all blessings, are meant to be received.  The circle remains broken if we don’t accept His blessings, like a Christmas gift which is offered, but refused. Christmas gifts are meant to be given and received.

            When we receive the blessing of Jesus Christ into our hearts, a connection is established between God and us.  When we receive that blessing, then the benefits of that blessing can be realized in our lives.

            Once God’s blessing is accepted, then we can be a blessing to God, living our lives in accordance with His holy ways.  We become a blessing to others as we give glory to God and seek to bring about God’s kingdom in this world (as the Lord’s Prayer says, “Thy kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven”).

            We can learn a lot about God as we consider His blessing, seen in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Here are some of those realities:

-         God is love.  Jesus Christ comes to show us how loving the Father is.  The thrust of Jesus’ teachings, His miracles, and especially His death, show us the depth and the strength of God’s love for each of us.

-        God is a generous gift-giver.  The work of Jesus in His earthly ministry overflows with generosity, especially to those who could do nothing to earn God’s favor….the sick were healed, the outcasts (prostitutes, tax collectors and others) were restored to God’s favor, and those who were oppressed by sin and the attacks of the evil one were delivered and were protected.

-        God is a risk-taker.  The time in human history in which our Lord was born was a hard and difficult time:  life was short and unpredictable, the Roman occupation of the Holy Land was oppressive (some estimates are that the rate of taxation of the people approached 66% of their income!), the spiritual leadership of the people was weak and self-serving, and the religious practices of the day had become mere formalities.  Knowing full well what reception Jesus would receive, God sent Him anyway.  We see this most clearly in Jesus’ crucifixion.  Would any of us send our child to do good in the world, knowing that they would be rejected and killed for their efforts?

-        God often works in barely noticeable ways, and in unexpected ways.  The circumstances of Jesus’ birth give us a clue to how His earthly ministry will unfold….Not many knew about His birth, and when He was born, He was born to a mother who was probably of the lower, poorer class, in an out-of-the-way town in a backwater part of the Roman Empire. 

            The question comes to us this Christmas:  “Have we received God’s blessing?”

            You may wonder, “How do I do that?”

            The answer is quite simple, really…Our Lord Jesus Christ stands ready to enter our hearts, but we have to open the door and invite him in.  A verse from Revelation 3:20 says it best:  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

            It’s as simple as that.  There’s no “right” formula for this prayer, no exact words which are necessary to establish the relationship, only the heart’s desire to come to know the Lord personally, and to cement the relationship with Him.  It is enough to either pray, think or say, “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, take up your place there, that I may receive and return your blessing in thanksgiving for all you have done for me.”

            Once that happens, God can offer us His full blessing.  Our hearts and minds will overflow with God’s love and God’s goodness.  And as our hearts overflow, we will be able to pass along those blessings to others, and the world will be a better place, one heart and one mind at a time.  After all, it is in the human heart that much of God’s activitity takes place….God working, one person, one heart, at a time.

            How about you?  Have you received the fullness of God’s blessing, offered in Jesus Christ?

            I pray that you have. 

            If you haven’t, won’t you make an early New Year’s resolution and do so?

            If you have, but have allowed your heart to become distracted from the things of God, or have allowed your heart to cool toward the warmth of the love of God as we know it in Jesus Christ, then won’t you confess your distraction or your coolness to Him and re-establish the relationship you once had?

            As your priest, my main task in ministry is to assist you to establish a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and to do all that I can to help keep that relationship alive and glowing with the unmistakable love of God.

AMEN.

     

4 Advent, Year B

II Samuel 7: 1 – 11, 16; Psalm 89: 1 – 4, 19 - 26; Romans 16: 25 - 27; Luke 1: 26 - 38

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, December 18, 2011.

 “GOD’S IN-BREAKING REVELATION”

(Homily texts:  Romans 16: 25 – 27 & Luke 1: 26 - 38)

            “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.”  (Luke 1: 26)

            I suppose that just about every one of us could recite that verse, either completely accurately, or with a summation of the major facts that it conveys.

            But when is the last time we’ve really thought about the facts of what happened when Gabriel made his announcement to Mary?  I say this because – oftentimes – I think that Holy Scripture tends to “flatten out” when we read it….that is to say, the events and the people who were caught up in them tend to become like characters in a book, people who may have lived a long time ago in a faraway place.

            But put yourself in Mary’s position, and think about what happened to her when Gabriel appeared and told her about God’s plans for her life.

            Of course, the first thing we might notice about what Gabriel had to say is that it changed Mary’s life forever!  (And, of course, Gabriel’s announcement also changed our life forever, as well.)

            Now perhaps we ought to look at this event more closely.

            In particular, let’s recall that Gabriel was “sent from God”.  That is to say, it is God who took the initiative in sending Gabriel, just as it was God who took the initiative to send Jesus Christ.

            Let’s focus in on God’s part in the drama, as God’s Son, Jesus Christ, the “Son of the Most High”, comes among us.

            The important thing to notice is that God has revealed Himself here.  Without God’s self-revelation of Himself, we are left without a clear reference point in knowing what to believe about who God is, what God is like, and how we are to relate to Him.

            That was the problem with the pagan gods and goddesses of the Canaanite peoples who lived in the land before God’s people came into the Promised Land….they have a multitude of deities from which to choose, and so the spiritual game became one of trying to either please one god or another, or to play one god off against another.

            What was true for human beings over 3,000 years ago remains true today:  Without God’s own revelation of Himself, we are left to our own devices.  Once we trust our own imaginations, we will create gods to suit our own liking.

            The evidence of that is easy to see today:  We are living in a world which has become a pagan place by many standards.  There is no shortage of idols which can be set up to gather our attention and to demand our service.  Wealth, status, possessions, money, relationships, all of these and many more become the deities which we create for ourselves.  These idols demand our service, our time, our resources, and our attention.

            The idols of today are far more sophisticated than the ancient Canaanite ones…they are no longer made of a block of wood, a piece of stone, or pottery.

            But they are no less dangerous.  In fact, the level of danger to our souls rises in direct relationship to the attractiveness of the idol.  For one thing, the more attractive they seem to be, the less we can see the danger of serving them.

            So, we need God’s self-revelation, that sort of revelation that St. Paul alludes to in our epistle reading for today.  Let’s notice how he puts that summation as he says, “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed and  through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations….” (italic mine, of course).

            Paul affirms that God has revealed Himself through the preaching of Jesus Christ, and that this is the revelation of the mystery of God, which is now disclosed, and is made known to all nations.

            To sum up then, let’s make some observations about God’s revelation of Himself:

1.  God’s revelation is necessary in order to prevent idolatry.

2.  Human beings are spiritual creatures.  This is an aspect of what it means to be “created in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1: 26).  Being created in the divine image and likeness enables us to be spiritual beings, able to conceive of and relate to God.

3.  Without God’s revelation, human beings will create idols with which to fill the spiritual need which exists within us.

4.  God’s revelation of Himself will always be consistent with some aspect of an earlier revelation of Himself.  For example, in today’s gospel text, Gabriel tells Mary that the son who will be born of her is to be named Jesus, a name which means “God saves”.  So here, Gabriel affirms that God will save His people through the sending of the person of Jesus.  Just as God had saved His people in ancient times in various ways (Noah’s passing through the flood, the Israelites passing through the waters of the Red Sea, e.g.), God now saves His people in the sending of Jesus.

5.  God’s revelation prevents an amorphous “spirituality”.  Many persons today claim to be “spiritual”, but not “religious”.  There is a danger to be seen here:  undefined spirituality can be just about anything, and can take on just about any shape (which is usually defined by the individual him/herself).  But religion demands that we “tie together again” (the basic meaning of the word) to truths of God as we have received them in the person, work, teachings, life, death, resurrection, ascension and coming again of Jesus Christ, in the pages of Holy Scripture, and in the received teachings of the Church.  Here is “religion” the way it is supposed to be (and in its best sense):  God-given and God-centered.

Burial of the Dead

Isaiah 61: 1 – 3; Psalm 46; I John 3: 1 - 2; John 11: 21 - 27

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Saturday, December 17, 2011, on the occasion of the burial of William “Bill” McIntire Schelosky.

“THEREFORE, WE WILL NOT FEAR”

(Homily texts:  Psalm 46 & John 11: 21 – 27)

 
           “Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea.”  That was verse two of Psalm 46, which we read together a few moments ago.

            Psalm 46 has been the source of comfort to many of God’s people down through the ages.

            Its sentiment captures a key facet of life for Bill and Esther over these past years, as difficulties and challenges have mounted, and as answers to those difficulties and challenges have eluded the best efforts of medical science to provide.  That key reality for them both is the lack of fear.

            “Therefore, we will not fear!”

            How can we say that?  How could Bill and Esther have believed that so firmly as they walked together through the hardships that came Bill’s way?

            Here is the answer:  It is also found in Psalm 46 (three times!):   “The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.”

            That same sort of bewilderment (and perhaps fear) is found on our gospel reading for today.  In it, we hear Martha say to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother (Lazarus) would not have died.”

            We might need a little reminding about what’s going on here, as Martha converses with the Lord…..Her brother had died four days earlier, and had been buried in a tomb near their town of Bethany (which is about two miles southeast of Jerusalem).

            Since he had been dead for four days, he was really dead, for the Jews of that day believed that a person’s soul lingered around the body for three days, in hopes of being reunited with it.

            “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

            Perhaps we could apply that same feeling to our situation with Bill today, saying to God, “Lord, if you had been here, Bill would not have died.”  If only the answers and the treatments could have conquered the power of disease and death, Bill would not have died.

            Notice that Martha affirms that Jesus can do anything that He asks of the Father, as she says, “And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

            But yet, Martha can’t quite grasp that reality.  You see, Jesus puts her to the test as He responds:  “Your brother will rise again.”

            She says to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”  This sounds a bit like “pie-in-the-sky”. 

            “Oh yes”, we might say, “we can affirm that reality for some day, far in the future, but not now.”

            Jesus’ next line is important.  He says, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this?”

            (Hold onto Jesus’ statement about dying, living, and never dying.  We’ll come back to that in just a moment.)

            Martha still can’t quite grasp this reality.  She gives a puzzling answer:  “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.”

            It is now clear that the stage has been set for Jesus to prove that He has the power over death, and the power to give life.  He instructs those who’ve been standing around to roll the stone away from the door to the tomb.  Once it is out of the way, He says in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”  And Lazarus came out, still wearing the linen wrappings that were put around the dead man’s body in those days.

            Jesus’ raising of Lazarus is the curtain-raiser on His own resurrection, which will take place not many days after Lazarus’ resurrection.  Again, Jesus proves that He has the power over death, and the power to give life.

            “He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die,” Jesus said to Martha. 

            “Do you believe this?”

            Bill and Esther believed this, and continue to believe it.  Bill believes it fully, now that he has come into God’s presence through the power of Jesus Christ to conquer death and to create life.  God’s promises, made to Bill at the time of his baptism, are now reality.

            With St. Paul, Bill can now say, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

            Let’s  return for a moment to Jesus’ statement about dying, living, and never dying.

            At first glance, His statement doesn’t seem to make much sense.  In fact, it’s a whole lot like a lot of things we read in John’s gospel account.

            How can a person die, then live, and never die again?  Isn’t the reality of our lives that we die, and that’s the end of the story?

            For the Christian believer, the answer is “No!”

            We love a God who has a wonderful habit of saving His people.  We hear it in the words of Psalm 46:  “Come now, and look upon the works of the Lord, what awesome things he has done on earth.”

            One of the awesome things God has done is to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sin, that sin that blocks our way to God.HiH

            That promise was made to Bill in his baptism.

            And though Bill received that promise when the water was poured over his head, it would take a lifetime of experience for Bill to completely and fully claim the promises of God.  But fully claim them he did.  For Bill came to know that he is a child of God, dearly loved by God.  Gradually, Bill came more and more into God’s  loving embrace, an embrace that is now complete, up-close-and-personal, in God’s presence.

            Many times we know God’s saving power as we experience difficulties.  Bill certainly had his share of those, didn’t he?  And oftentimes we know that God is not only near to us, but present in our troubles, as we look back over our shoulders to see His presence and power in hindsight.  (Perhaps your life experience is just that way….I know that mine has been.)

            As God reaches out to us in the person, work, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are called to reach out to Him in response.  God offers us all of the richness and the blessings of new life in Christ, but we need to reach out in response to claim those blessings and that richness. 

            We can be thankful that Bill did that reaching out to God, responding to God’s love and to God’s power to save.

            “Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea.”

            For Bill can say, along with believers down through the ages, that “The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.”

            Thanks be to God.   AMEN. 

3 Advent, Year B

Isaiah 61:1–4, 8-11; Psalm 126; I Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6–8, 19-28

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, December 11, 2011.

“GAUDETE SUNDAY – A REFLECTION”
(Homily texts:  Isaiah 61: 1 – 4, 8 – 11, I Thessalonians 5: 16 – 24 & John 1: 6 – 8, 19 - 28)

Today, the Third Sunday of Advent, is generally known in churches which follow the liturgical tradition as Gaudete Sunday.  The name comes from the first word of the traditional Introit for this day, as we hear it in Latin. The text begins:

Gaudete in Domino semper:  iterum dico, gaudete.

In English, the Latin reads:

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice.

You may recognize that these are words which come to us from St. Paul, as he writes to the early Christians in Philippians 4: 4ff.  (Notice how our reading from I Thessalonians 5: 16 - 17 captures much of the same sense:  “Rejoice always, pray constantly.”)

So, gaudete means “rejoice”!

At this point, you may be searching your liturgical memory to recall that Advent is traditionally a time of penitence, a time for soul-searching, a time of preparation for the Lord’s coming to us in His birth at Bethlehem, and a time for preparing for His final coming again at the end of time.

This time of preparation is signified by the liturgical color violet (or in old English usage, dark blue, which is our practice here at Trinity).  May I ask you to hold that thought about preparation/penitence for a moment?  We’ll come back to that issue shortly.

I think this would be an excellent occasion point out the overall pattern of the flow of the liturgical colors as they unfold throughout the year.  The general pattern is:

Violet (dark blue) – White – Green

Each of these colors convey a meaning, which is:

                        Violet (dark blue)         Penitence/preparation

                        White                           Celebration

                        Green                           Growth in the faith which is the product of our

                                                              preparation and subsequent celebration

            Applied to the pattern of violet (dark blue) – white – green, the pattern lays out like this:

                        Advent                         Violet (dark blue)

                        Christmas                     White

                        Epiphany                      Green

                        Lent                             Violet

                        Easter                           White

                        Pentecost                     Green

Now, let’s return to the business of penitence and preparation, and lay these concerns alongside the idea of being able to rejoice during such a period as Advent.

How can we rejoice if we are examining our consciences, our hearts, and our daily lives?  How do these two concepts go together.  How do they manage to live together?

I think the answer lies in God’s goodness and God’s graciousness.

Simply put, we serve and love a holy God, a God who demands holiness from His people in every aspect of their daily activities, thoughts and contemplations.

If we are honest about it, even the briefest reflection will convince us that we fall far short of God’s standards of holiness.  As we say in our General Confession, “We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed, against thy divine Majesty….”[1]

God would be well within His rights to condemn us all, and to cast us aside and out of His presence forever, wouldn’t he?

I certainly know that the pattern of my life at certain times would confirm that God ought send me away, to allow eternal separation from Him to be my fate.

But I also know that the holy God whom we worship and adore is a compassionate, merciful and loving God, a God who is more ready hear our prayers than we are to pray, a God who is more ready to give than we either desire or deserve (as the Collect for Proper 22 says so well).[2]

And so, remorse over our sinful state can be combined with rejoicing.  It is possible for the two concepts to exist together, side-by-side, but only if penitence precedes rejoicing.

In fact, remorse sets the stage for rejoicing, for it is our own honesty before God which allows that same God to shower us with His forgiveness.  The two go together….they are inseparable, one from the other.  Remorse over our sins and confession of them allows God to bless us with His forgiveness.

We would do well to turn to our readings for today, to see this process at work:

In Isaiah, chapter 61, we read this:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor….”

Here are words which convey God’s graciousness, God’s acting to free His people from bondage.  They inspire in God’s people in every age a cause for hope, a cause for rejoicing.

Similarly, our gospel reading from the Fourth Gospel recounts John the baptizer’s message….The thrust of John’s ministry was to “bear witness to the light” as the writer of the gospel puts it.  That light is Jesus Christ, the one who is the Christ, God’s anointed one.  John captures the liberation that Jesus Christ brings as he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1: 29)

We can claim God’s forgiveness, made known in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, by confessing our sins and by claiming God’s forgiveness.

So today, we live out the reality of penitence and rejoicing, side-by-side, in the traditional liturgical color which is appropriate for this day:  rose.

This idea might require some explanation:  The color rose is a combination of red and blue.

Liturgically, we’ve already made the observation that (dark) blue is a color which can be used for penitential seasons of preparation, like Advent (or Lent, when violet is more appropriate).

Now, let’s recall what we use the color red for, liturgically…that is the color which comes to us on the great Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down on the assembled believers, lighting above the heads of each one as flames of fire (see Acts 2: 1 – 4).  On the Feast of Pentecost, bright red is used.

We are safe in making a connection between the action of the Holy Spirit and the color red.  (It’s also worth noting that bright red is the appropriate color for services of ordination, at which time the Holy Spirit’s presence and power are invoked in the singing of  the ancient hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus.)

So today, we wear rose-colored vestments, combining the dark blue of penitence with the simultaneous presence of the power of the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and to liberate us from it.

As our Collect for this Sunday says, “Stir up thy power, O Lord, and with great might come among us, and because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let they bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us….”

May it ever be so.

AMEN.

---

[1]   Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 331

[2]   BCP, page 182

2 Advent, Year B

Isaiah 40: 1 - 11; Psalm 85: 1 – 2, 8 - 13; II Peter 3: 8 – 15a; Mark 1: 1 – 8

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, December 4, 2011.

“THE WAY HOME” 

            Our Collect for this, the Second Sunday of Advent, says:

            Merciful God, who sent thy messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation; Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

            The Collect for today offers a blueprint for the way home to God, out of exile, bondage and estrangement, into a close relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

            Using the pattern of the Collect, what follows this morning is a reflection on the process of coming home to God, out of a faraway place.  This reflection will focus on Isaiah’s prophecy as it was realized when God’s chosen people came out of exile in Babylon, and on John the baptizer’s call to repentance as he baptized in the Jordan River.

            So, we will begin by asking a question:  Do you know the way home?

            Perhaps most of us have had the experience of being away from home, or perhaps have even been lost for a time.

            If you’ve had that experience, do you remember how if felt to be away from home, especially if you knew you either couldn’t find your way, or knew that it would be a long time before you could get home?

            God’s people in ancient times must surely have known these feelings.  As I make that statement, I have in mind the period of the captivity in Babylon, which lasted from 586 BC to 536 BC.  Much of the population around Jerusalem and Judea was deported when the Babylonians conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 586.

             So perhaps Isaiah’s words rang in their ears, telling them that it was time for them to go home as they learned that they were to be free to leave:  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low, the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.”

            Now hold that image of Isaiah’s prophecy, along with the return of God’s people to Jerusalem and to Judah, in your mind for a moment, and let’s turn our attention to notice some parallels which exist between our Isaiah reading and our gospel text from Mark, chapter one.

            There is a progression which is found in each passage.  Here it is:

1.  God’s people are in bondage, enslaved because of the sin of idolatry.

2.  A prophet’s voice announces a way to return home to God.

3.  The return to God involves a wilderness (desert) journey.

4.  God’s forgiveness allows the exiles to return home to Him.

5.  God’s power makes possible the reunification with Him.

            Now let’s see how this progression works itself out in each case.

            We begin with Isaiah’s prophecy, and its fulfillment when God’s people made their return from Babylon in 536 BC.

            1.  Sin and idolatry:  Eventually, God’s people came to see that the reason for their defeat and subsequent deportation to Babylon was due to their idolatry.  For centuries, worship of the one, true God had been intermingled with pagan idol worship.  Many of the pagan gods that found their way into worship (even in the temple in Jerusalem) were actually Canaanite gods, like Dagon or the Asherah poles, or Molech.  It took the deportation to Babylon to break God’s people of the habit of worshipping other gods, alongside (or in place of) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses and Elijah.  Never again would they intermingle the two, once they were back in the Promised Land.

            2.  The prophet’s announcement:  Isaiah’s prophecy comes true as the Persian king Cyrus allows the people to return to Jerusalem and Judah.

            3.  The wilderness:  The people would have to travel westward through the wilderness to return home.

            4.  God’s forgiveness:  The announcement that permission had been granted to return home signaled the beginning of God’s forgiveness.  The time of punishment was over.  “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned,” Isaiah had said.

            5.  God’s power:  The return home is made possible by the power of God.  Furthermore, it is God who will make possible the reunification of the people with their God.  Isaiah had said, “He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

            Now, let’s examine the situation as we find it during the time that John the baptizer was baptizing in the Jordan River, in the first century.  We are able to apply the same five categories to the contemporary situation he faced.

            1.  Sin and idolatry:  Though the people are not enslaved by the sin of worshipping Canaanite gods, or the gods of the Romans, who had conquered the Holy Land, they are guilty of idolatry in another sense:  They have made the law of Moses into an idol.  The law’s original purpose, to provide a way for God’s people to walk with the Lord in holiness and righteousness, had instead become a legalistic code of conduct.  Attention was focused so squarely on what a person could or couldn’t do in any given situation, that oftentimes the law itself took the place that God alone should occupy.  Sin was defined as any transgression of the provisions of the law as it was applied to each and every possible situation a person could encounter.  Penance for sin became somewhat legalistic, as well, for a person could go through the outward motions and consider themselves forgiven without making the inner change of heart that true forgiveness entails.

            2.  The prophet’s announcement:  John the baptizer calls the people to repentance.  Notice that the same words which we have already heard in Isaiah are repeated here.

            3.  The wilderness:  Mark tells us that people came from Jerusalem and the surrounding area of Judea to the wilderness to wash away their sins.

            4.  God’s forgiveness:  As people confess their sins and enter the waters of the Jordan, their sins are forgiven them.

            5.  God’s power:  If John’s baptism was for the forgiveness of sins, then the baptism of Jesus involves the receiving of power to bring others into unity with God.  At first glance, my statement probably doesn’t make sense, so I’ll attempt to clarify:  Notice that John says that his baptism was with water (and for the forgiveness of sins, as we’ve noted a moment ago), but that Jesus will “baptize with the Holy Spirit.”  If we recall when the Holy Spirit was given, and what happened as a result of the coming of the Spirit, then I think we can make the connection….the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, and the Spirit’s indwelling made possible the spread of the Good News, news that God had made it possible for all people to come into fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.

            The return home for God’s people in the sixth century BC was a physical, geographical event which carried with it the importance of returning to the Promised Land, and to Jerusalem, that place where God dwelt.

            The return home for those who had undergone John’s baptism, and Jesus’ baptism subsequently, was a return home spiritually.  As a spiritual event, it was therefore available to all people everywhere.  The human heart would be the place where God dwells.

            How does this apply to us?

            Do we undergo a similar return home somehow?

            I think the answer is “yes”.

            We remain quite prone to the sin of idolatry.  This is to speak honestly and frankly.  Idols are no longer wood, stone or ceramic, like they were in ancient times.  In our day, idols might consist of a certain prized possession, or an idea, or money, or status.

            Of any idol, which is essentially anything that takes the rightful place that God alone ought to occupy, we have the need to repent.

            Recall the words of the Collect for today, as it says, “Give us grace to heed their (the prophets) warnings and forsake our sins.”

            Repentance will involve meeting God in the wilderness places, the lonely places, of our lives.  God is often found in those places where the distractions are few and the relating is between God and us, alone.

            But genuine confession is followed by genuine forgiveness.  Recall the words of Psalm 103:  “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he (God)  put our sins away from us.”

            Forgiveness is followed by the restoration of fellowship with God, so that the power of God to reconcile and to build anew is known in our lives.

            Do you know the way home?