Sunday, November 29, 2015

Advent I, Year C (2015)

Jeremiah 33: 14-16; Psalm 25: 1-9; I Thessalonians 3: 9-13; Luke 21: 25-36

This is a  homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 29, 2015.

“GRASPING GOD’S GREAT,
BIG PLAN AND OUR PLACE
IN IT”
(Homily texts:  The Collect of the Day, I Thessalonians 3: 9–13 and Luke 21: 25-36)

Our Prayer Book offers so many wonderful resources for worship. Among these is today’s Collect, which sets the stage for the season of Advent very well. Here is the text of that Collect:
Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
This wonderful Collect gathers up the two themes of Advent: Preparing to greet the coming of the babe who was born in Bethlehem by holy and righteous living, and preparing and watching for the full arrival of God’s reign when the Lord comes again.
It seems to me that we can explore these two themes using the image of participating in a team sport:
Significant in many people’s Thanksgiving activities is the watching of a lot of football. Sports occupy an important place in our society, and in our lifetimes, many will become a member of a team in one sport or another. Our team memberships can range from a back yard “pick up” game, to a school team, or – perhaps, if our skills are good enough – to membership on a college or even a pro team.
All teams have things in common:
  • We become a member of the team, either by volunteering for membership, or by trying out in some way to demonstrate our skills and abilities.

  • Depending on the situation, we may have an assistant coach, or a specialized trainer to shape and develop our abilities.

  • Once we become members, we have to learn how to work with others on the team, and to figure out how our skills and abilities fit in with theirs.

  • Part of the integration process involves learning what the ultimate goals of the team are, and how our individual role in achieving those goals unfolds.

Keeping in mind what’s just been suggested, allow me to suggest the idea that the process of becoming a Christian follows much the same path as we’ve just considered in sports: Becoming a Christian involves becoming a part of a team, God’s team.
On God’s team, we might compare God the Father to being the team owner ... the team owner has an overall vision and plan for what the team will accomplish. (We’ll talk more about this shortly.) God the Son, Jesus Christ, acts like the coach of the team, showing by His example how we are to contribute to the Father’s plan. And God the Holy Spirit can function like an assistant coach or a trainer to hone and sharpen our skills.
Our team membership has to begin somewhere. At some point, we have to volunteer to sign up. For the Christian, that signing-up process begins at Baptism. For, in Baptism, we die to ourselves, and we rise to a new life in Christ, as St. Paul says so eloquently in Romans 6: 3 – 9.
Fortunately, there’s no need to demonstrate our skills or our fitness for membership on this team.  For if there were some sort of a tryout, none of us would qualify. And yet, God accepts us, already knowing our individual skills and abilities.
In Baptism, God accepts us just as we are, already knowing what our shortcomings are, already knowing what our talents and skills are, and already knowing just what sort of training we will need in order to become a valuable member of the team.
It’s as if God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all stand at the baptismal font, welcoming us into the team.
No matter how talented we might be, in order to be a good team player on God’s team, we are going to need training….Jesus is our coach, for He has shown us what team membership looks like.
The Church plays an important role in shaping the individual team member, for one of the main reasons the Church exists is to offer ways in which each individual will come to know more about God, and about the duties of being a team member. On Sunday mornings, we hear Holy Scripture read, we are offered a sermon or homily which (hopefully) enlightens and challenges us in our Christian vocation as a member of the team.
Indeed, at the time of Baptism, the parents and Godparents of the one being baptized promise to bring the person up in the faith. We, too, as the Church, the Body of Christ, also promise to bring that person up in the knowledge of what it means to be a member of this holy team. That’s why it’s so important for parents to cultivate the habit of coming to Church regularly, and to pass along that model to their children. That’s why it’s so important for the Church to offer training opportunities such as Sunday School and Bible study, so that we may learn and hone our skills and abilities.
The next step involves honing our own skills. The Holy Spirit acts as an assistant to the coach (who is Jesus Christ), enlightening us and giving us the vision to succeed in our calling as a member of God’s team. The Holy Spirit acts closely with the coach, Jesus Christ, to ensure that we live out the call of our baptisms.
Here, we can glean some insights into proper behavior for the Christian from our lectionary readings for this morning. First, let’s look at St. Paul’s admonitions to the early Christians who were living in Thessalonica: Paul’s prayer is that these Christians will “increase and abound in love for one another and for all.” A bit later on, he adds the hope that God would “strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with his saints.”
Paul’s concern is that the individual team members would uphold and model the values of the team. Those values involve love for one another and holiness.  Paul adds, in a theme which is central to the season of Advent, the concern that these team members keep in mind the team owner’s (God the Father’s) overall, big plan for the team, which involves the Lord Jesus’ eventual return with His saints. The Lord’s admonition, heard in this morning’s gospel reading, is for the team members to be alert at all times, not wasting their talents, skills and abilities on dissipated living. Our wonderful Collect for this morning states this necessity well, as it asks God to assist us to “put away the works of darkness.”
Loving other members of the team, and loving those who might someday become members, integrates us into the team more fully, and connects us to the overall plan of the team owner, the Father. Sometimes, doing the “hard business” of loving can be very challenging. For all of us are incomplete, not-yet-fully-trained members of the team. We still carry with us some behaviors we learned before we became team members, and some of those traits are difficult to experience and live with. And yet, if we recall that the welcome we received from the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit at the time of our baptisms was, essentially, a welcome borne out of love, a deep and abiding love, a love that says, “We’ll take you, even if you are imperfect and are not yet fully trained and formed,” then if we can recall God’s radical welcome to us in Baptism, we might be better able to show the kind of generosity toward other team members that is essential for the team to function well.
Finally, there is an overarching, great, big plan which comes from the team owner, God the Father. (This is another of the great themes of the season of Advent.) That goal, that plan, is for God the Son, Jesus Christ, to return in glory at some time in the future. At that time, the team will celebrate the completion of its part in achieving that goal, for the team, the Church, will have worked to bring about the day when God’s reign and rule will be complete. In the meantime, whenever we team members take the field, we are to work to fulfill the owner’s desires and plans to bring about a world in which God has “made all things new”. (Revelation 21: 5).
AMEN.            

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Pentecost Last (Christ the King) - Year B (2015)

Proper 29 ::  Daniel 7: 9–10, 13-14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1: 4b-8; John 18: 33-37

This is a homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 22, 2015.

“THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PRESIDENT AND A KING”
(Homily texts:  Revelation 1: 4b–8, John 18: 33–37 & the Collect of the Day)

Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday in the Church Year.  Our readings, especially that which is appointed from the Book of Revelation, frame the theme for this day, which not only wraps up the entire year which has gone before us, but it also sets the stage for the new year, which begins with the season of Advent…during Advent, we prepare for Christ’s first coming, born as a babe in Bethlehem, and we also concentrate on the second coming of the Lord, a time when everyone will acknowledge Him as “King of kings and Lord of lords”, as our Collect of the Day today acknowledges.

We ought to be honest with ourselves and admit that we Americans aren’t entirely comfortable with the idea of having a king.  To be sure, we are overwhelmingly interested in the British royal family, but while that sort of royalty interests us, it does so mainly as an academic exercise, for we here in this country don’t have – or want – a king or a royal family to be the head of state.  We are firmly committed to the ideals of a democratic republic, even though we ought to be fair to our brothers and sisters in the United Kingdom and say that theirs is also a democratic state with a royal head-of-state who serves as a symbol of national unity.

Perhaps it might be best for us to learn something about kings (and queens) by contrasting what a king (or queen) is with what a president is.  Perhaps we can learn to appreciate our Lord Jesus Christ more fully by engaging in this exercise.

So, let’s begin.

A president is elected by the people.  A king (or queen) inherits his (her) position.

A president arises from among the people….it’s often been said that just about anyone could, conceivably, become president.  A king is set apart from the people by virtue of having been born into a royal family.

A president serves for a certain, set length of time.  A king (or queen) serves as long as they live, generally speaking.

A president’s powers are enumerated by a Constitution or a set of laws.  A king – at least in former times – exercised near total control over his subjects….Especially in a former time, the king’s word was law.  (This sort of kingly power is known as the “Divine Right of Kings”, the idea that a king was divinely chosen to rule over his people.)

So these are some of the ways in which a king (or queen) differs from a president.

Now, let’s apply these contrasts to Jesus Christ:

First of all, our Lord is appointed to be king by God the Father.  The Letter to the Hebrews seeks to confirm this understanding by saying that Jesus Christ was appointed to be the righteous priest “after the order of Melchizedek”.[1]  This ancient king-priest. Melchizedek, was both a king and a priest.

Secondly, the Lord’s kingship is derived from the fact that He came from the Father….So the Lord Jesus Christ shares God’s divinity in all its fullness.  But here, an important distinction with merely human kings arises:  The Lord also arises from among us by virtue of His having come in the flesh, to be born of the Virgin Mary, to take upon Himself our flesh and blood.

The third distinction has to do with the Lord’s tenure as king:  He is a king forever, a kingdom which will have no end.  Revelation casts this reality in terms of identifying the Lord as “King of kings and lord of lords,” [2]adding that “He shall reign for ever and ever.”[3]

The last distinction has to do with the limits of power of this heavenly king.  Essentially, there is no limit to the power of this king, this divine king, for He will conquer all opposition and will do away with all the forces of evil in the world.  And yet, we are bound to admit that this king, our Lord Jesus Christ, conquers through the power of the cross, that emblem of suffering, shame and defeat.  It is this distinction that Pilate could not understand, for in our gospel reading this morning, we hear of the interchange between Jesus and Pilate….Pilate asks, “So, you are a king?”  Jesus essentially affirms Pilate’s question, but then adds “My kingdom is not of this world….”  Pilate understood royalty in terms of raw power.  He could not understand the sort of royalty that would be willing to serve, as well as to be served.  In the cross, we see both aspects of Jesus’ royalty, for He allowed Himself to be subject to the depths of a death on a cross, and yet, He conquered its power and the resulting power of death by rising to new life again on Easter Sunday morning.

So in this King of kings and Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus Christ, we have the almighty one who has emptied Himself to take upon Him the form of a servant, so that, being found in human form, He humbled Himself, even to the point of death on a cross.  As a result, God has highly exalted Him, and has given Him the name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.  (I am paraphrasing St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter two, verses five through eleven.)

As we contemplate what it means to be in a personal, ongoing relationship with this King of kings and Lord of lords, we come to realize the depth of love that the Lord Jesus Christ has for each of us, for His invitation to an ever-deeper relationship rests not on a command to love, but on an invitation – borne out of servanthood – to enter into a deep and abiding love relationship.

What an awesome king!  A king who rules over all by virtue of His willingness to serve us all. 

Thanks be to God!



[1]   See Hebrews 7: 1 – 18.
[2]   Revelation 19: 16
[3]   Revelation11: 15

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Pentecost 25, Year B (2015)

Proper 28 :: Daniel 12: 1–3; Psalm 16;  Hebrews 10: 11-25; Mark 13: 1-8

This is a homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 15, 2015.

“IN TIMES LIKE THESE”
(Homily texts:  Daniel 12: 1-3 & Mark 13: 1-8)

Let’s do some imagining this morning….

Imagine that we’ve come home, only to find that the family dog has, somehow, managed to get up onto the kitchen counter, where said dog has pulled down the three layer chocolate cake.  We come home to find chocolate all over the place, a royal mess.

Imagine that we’ve come home to find that a water pipe has burst somewhere in the house. There’s water everywhere, lots of it.

Imagine that we’ve come home to discover that the house has caught fire while we were gone.  The place is a total mess.

Now, let me insert - at this point - the thought that I hope that no one listening to this homily, or is reading it online, ever has to face any of these sorts of scenarios.

In the three situations we’ve just considered, the response we might feel to each situation would be shock, an inability to begin to think of what to do to fix the situation and fear.

Let’s insert ourselves into the situation that the early Christians living in Rome in the latter half of the first century were facing:  Imagine that some in our church have been hauled off to jail by the army.  We don’t know where they have been taken, nor do we know what their fate will be.  (In truth, during the Emperor Nero’s reign, for many Christians, that fate would have been a terrible one.)

That was the situation that the Christians to whom Mark was writing were facing. For them, their lives were marked by uncertainty, persecution and terror.  They were living with constant crisis.

It was to these beleaguered Christians that the Lord’s message, the one we hear in today’s gospel, came.  Speaking to His disciples as they made their way through the magnificent precincts of the temple in Jerusalem, He tells them that there will come a time when all of those enormous and awe-inspiring structures will cease to be.

Before we unpack the importance of the Lord’s prediction, we ought to pause for a moment and talk about the sort of message it is that we hear in today’s gospel passage, and in our Old Testament reading from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Daniel:  What we are hearing this morning is known as apocalyptic literature.

In the Bible, apocalyptic writing tends to arise during times of persecution, hardship and crisis.

The second half of the Book of Daniel[1] is apocalyptic writing.  So is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. The thirteenth chapter of Mark’s gospel account is also apocalyptic writing….in fact, biblical scholars call this chapter of Mark’s account the “Little Apocalypse”.

The very word apocalypse comes to us from the Greek, where it means (literally) an “unveiling”.  Put another way, it means “revelation”, as in the formal name for the last book of the Bible, the “Revelation to St. John”.

Such an unveiling, a revelation, is a glimpse given to God’s people of God’s great, big plan.  It provides to the believer reassurance that – despite the hardships and the trials that they are facing, day by day – God is still in control, and that, as Julian of Norwich[2] once said, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Armed with this understanding of the purposes of apocalyptic writing, let’s look at the Book of Daniel, and then at our gospel for today.  Both are meant to give comfort and hope to God’s people.

The Book of Daniel is set in the Babylonian captivity, which took place from 586 – 538 BC.  In this period, the Jewish people, most of them anyway, had been carried off into captivity in Babylon following the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  God’s people had lost their homeland, the temple in Jerusalem which was the place where God had chosen for His dwelling place, and many of them had suffered the deaths of members of their families and friends.  All seemed lost.

And yet, in the midst of all of this calamity, Daniel records God’s great, big plan.  Part of that plan involves the collapse of the Babylonian Empire.  Consider the words which were spoken to the king of Babylon, Belshazzar, as the fingers of a man’s hand writes on the wall Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin:[3]  God has numbered the days of your reign, and has brought it to an end; you are weighed in the balance, and found wanting.  Daniel goes on to tell us that Belshazzar, will, that very night, be killed, and his kingdom will cease to be.

Such a message of hope is intended to lift the spirits of God’s people.

Some scholars think that the Book of Daniel was actually written during the Maccabean period, in the second century before Jesus’ birth.  If so, it would have been written during another very trying time of persecution for God’s people.

The bottom line in Daniel’s account might simply be this:  The Babylonians who made life so miserable for us are gone, completely gone; and perhaps the readers of Daniel would also remember that the Persians, who conquered the Babylonians, are also gone.  And if Daniel was written during the Maccabean period, the message would be that Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the oppressor of the Jews in the second century before Christ, will also, someday, be gone.  And yet, God is still abiding with His people.

Now, let’s fast-forward to the passage before us from Mark’s gospel account.

Mark’s readers, many of them, must have been encouraged to know that Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the Temple had come true, for the temple was destroyed during the Jewish-Roman War, which lasted from 66 – 70 AD.  Perhaps Mark wrote his account in the years immediately preceding that war.  If so, then when events confirmed the Lord’s prediction, the Christians living in Rome (and elsewhere) might have been encouraged to know that what the Lord had said had come to pass.  The message is that the Lord’s word is trustworthy and true.  It is meant to show that God is still in charge.  It is meant to show that there will come a time when the Romans will no longer be in charge

Of course, the Lord’s resurrection on Easter Sunday is the greatest affirmation of the truth of God’s word.  Christians, then and now, rely on this demonstration of the power of God to overcome all opposition.  Just as God had overcome our greatest enemy, death, in raising the Lord to life again, so God will overcome every obstacle that could possibly lie in our pathway, for, as St. Paul said, “Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.”[4]

One final word seems appropriate:  We live in an uncertain and dangerous world.  Indeed, in many ways, the uncertainties and the dangers that might confront us seem worse now that they were just a few years ago.  Two days before this homily was written, a horrible terror attack took place in Paris, France, where at least 127 people were killed and where hundreds more were injured.  The possibility that such an event might take place on our own shores is real.  Of course, we pray that such an event will not take place in our beloved country, and that the hand of evil will be stayed.  But the effects of terrorism are that fear will spread along with word of the terroristic acts.  So we all are affected in some way or another.

So perhaps we can take some encouragement from the truth of God’s word.  Though the way ahead of us might involve hardship and challenge, yet we can be sure that we have not been abandoned by God.  We can be sure that the truth of God’s word will endure.  We can be sure that all those who cause harm will, someday, cease to be.

For these things, for God’s abiding presence and His overwhelming power, we can offer thanks and praise.

AMEN.


[1]   Chapters 6 - 12
[2]   Julian of Norwich, 1342 - 1416
[3]   Daniel 5: 25 - 28
[4]   Romans 8: 39

Sunday, November 08, 2015

Pentecost 24, Year B (2015)

Proper 27 :: I Kings 17: 8-16; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9: 24-28; Mark 12: 38-44

This is a homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 8, 2015.

“LIFE IS SHORT, IT PAYS TO GO FIRST CLASS”
(Homily texts:  I Kings 17: 8-16 & Mark 12: 38-44)

“Life is short, it pays to go first class,” we used to say jokingly back in my Army days.

Today’s gospel reading presents us with two very different definitions of what “first class” is:
  •        For the scribes (and for their allies, the other members of the ruling classes in Jesus’ day), first class meant being on the top of the social ladder and the power structure.  Jesus points out that they like the security of being able to be recognized by their distinctive dress, to be able to be greeted with their titles, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and the best seats at feasts.  Moreover, in order to maintain their secure position in the power structures of that day, they are willing to engage in deceitful ways to cheat even poor widows out of what little they owned.

  •        For the poor widow who made her way to the collection box to put her alms into the temple’s treasury, first class living involved a test of faith, a willingness to give up everything that would help to assure her future, a willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her relationship with God.

Oftentimes, the appointed readings for a given Sunday involve parallel readings between the gospel text and the Old Testament text, and today’s selections follow this pattern, for in both readings for this Sunday, the faith experience of a widow is involved.

In I Kings, we read the account of the widow of Zarephath, a woman who was a Gentile, living in the area which is, today, located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Lebanon, who hosted the prophet Elijah.  The text tells us that she and her son were desperately poor.  They had enough flour and oil left to make one more meal for themselves, after which, we are told, they will sit down and wait for death to come.  Into this situation, Elijah arrives, and he asks the woman to make him a meal.  Involved in Elijah’s directions to the woman are two tests of faith:  
  1. Will she be willing to give up the last remaining resource she and her son have?  
  2. Will she be willing to make something for Elijah to eat first?  Elijah assures her that the flour will not be exhausted, nor will the supply of oil run out, if she is willing to have faith that God will provide what they need in the coming days.

Here, the Old Testament text and our gospel text diverge: We are told what happens to the widow of Zarephath,[1] but we do not know what became of the widow whose two copper coins were put into the temple’s treasury.  We can only wonder what her future was like.

Let’s back up to the definitions of “first class” living as we find it in the attitudes of the scribes, and in the attitudes and behaviors of the two widows.

The scribes are behaving in the ways that we human beings might be expected to behave:  They want to assure themselves of a secure place in the society in which they live, and they want to accrue for themselves as much financial security as possible.

Don’t these two goals seem reasonable?  Don’t these two goals reflect the attitudes of many in our society today, including even devout Christians?  Don’t we all want to be liked, to be noticed, to be respected?  Don’t we all want to have a healthy bank account and a good-looking investment portfolio?

Of course we do.

But, in truth, a deeper reality exists, and it is a reality that both widows in our readings experienced first-hand:  Having faith almost always involves a test of that faith.  Each of the widows whose experience we read about today faced the prospect of having nothing at all with which to meet the coming days.

Each widow was willing to give up all that they had, in response to God’s call.  I suspect each one of them learned what dependence upon God really meant.

At this point, it’s important to think about the ways in which people whose lives are marked by desperate need intersect with the lives of God’s people.  More specifically, what I am getting at is the idea that, like these two widows, each one of us who has a faith walk with God are called – just as these widows were – to be willing to sacrifice – to be willing to give everything up, if necessary -  to support and assist others who are in need.  Notice that God sends Elijah to do two things for the widow of Zarephath:  1. To test her willingness to obey God’s call to be willing to give up everything she had; and 2. To assist and support the widow once she had faithfully obeyed God’s direction.

Each of us is called to do the same, to come to the aid of those in need, and to support them in every way possible.

An aspect of this way of faithfully living according to God’s commands involves spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ (often called “evangelism”):  The early Church’s phenomenal growth was due, in part, to the fact that the Church offered people a place where they were valued and loved.  The Church also offered them a place where its members genuinely and generously cared for one another, meeting each member’s needs as they arose.  We ought to remember that the Greco-Roman world of the first century into which the Church was thrust was a cold and very inhospitable place to live….many people living in that world were without friends or family nearby, many were desperately poor, living without hope in a place where life was cheap and where life was often short.

We live in just such a world today….our culture – it seems to me – is becoming more and more like the Greco-Roman world of the first century, a place where many people are desperately poor, living without hope and without love in a place where they feel they have no worth, no value and no hope for the future.

But the Church is called to say an emphatic “No!” to all of these destructive ways of living, for the Church is called to offer the love that God has shown each of us to others who may have never known that anyone – let alone God – loves them.

Our call is to affirm the call of faith in each person’s life, showing them by the things we do and the ways we act that when people find themselves in the positions of the two widows we’ve been thinking about today, when people find themselves with no resources and no hope with which to meet tomorrow, that God’s people will step forward to show them that there is, indeed, hope for tomorrow.

That is our mandate from the Lord.  May that same Lord affirm in each of us the ability and the willingness to meet the test of faith that is required of us when that time comes before us by being willing to give of what we have in order to provide hope for others who may have no hope at all.

AMEN.
           

[1]   It is worth noting that the verses which follow today’s reading from I Kings tell us that this widow’s son became ill and died, and that Elijah restored the son to life again.  See I Kings 17: 17–24.

Sunday, November 01, 2015

All Saints' Sunday, Year B (2015)

Isaiah 25: 6-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21: 1–6a; John  11: 32-44

This is a homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 1, 2015.

“OF SAINTS AND SAINTHOOD”
(Homily texts:  Isaiah 25: 6–9, Revelation 21: 1–6a & John 11: 32-44)

Each year, the great feast of All Saints comes around on November 1st.  This year, the actual day happens to coincide with the first Sunday in November.  (In other years, when the date falls during the week, the observance may be moved to the first Sunday in November.)
So, today, we cast our eyes on the saints of old, and on the saints who are alive and who are working out God’s plans for the people He loves today.  We think about God’s “holy ones”, for that is what the word “saint” actually means, coming from the Latin word for “holy”.
Perhaps it’d be good for us to examine the matter of saints and of sainthood a bit more closely this morning, since – I suspect – there are some misconceptions about both topics.
So, let’s begin at a very good place, the three lectionary readings for this day.
Each one of our readings asks us to see the bigger picture of God’s working and of God’s plans for the world….these three readings are well chosen for this great feast.  In Isaiah, for example, the ancient prophet casts a picture of the time when God will provide His people with a rich and sumptuous feast.  Revelation puts before us the image of a new heaven and a new earth, that time when God will wipe away every tear, that time when God will make all things new.  And then, finally, our gospel reading from the eleventh chapter of John recounts Jesus’ conversation with Mary as they both stand before the tomb of Mary’s brother, Lazarus.  Jesus is about to raise Lazarus from the dead, and Jesus asks Mary if she believes in His power to conquer even death.  (Of course, we know that the raising of Lazarus is a prefiguring of the Lord’s own resurrection from the dead.)
Taking from these three readings, and applying the overarching theme they present to us, we might say that saints are those who hold before us God’s great, big plan for the people He loves.
Now, let’s turn our attention to the matter of saints and sainthood.
We should begin by noticing that the path to sainthood begins at baptism.  For in baptism, a person dies to their old identity, and is raised to a new life in God.  Indeed, baptism represents God’s power to make all things new.
But the marks of sainthood won’t be fully evident until the baptized person begins to exhibit the signs of new life, the signs of God’s great, big plans for each of us.  For it is in the ways in which the baptized behave that we can discern the marks of sainthood.
Next, we might dispel some erroneous notions about the saints:
            1.  Saints are only those who lived in ancient times It is normal, I think, for we humans to look back with fondness on the “good, old days” that have gone before us.  Alas, we often think of saints in just that way, too, thinking that saints existed only in the times that are now long gone.  But the truth is that saints are alive and well today, for they are the ones who hold God’s great, big plan before us.  They are beacons of light in an otherwise darkened world.
            2.  Saints with an upper case “S” and saints with a lower case “s”We often tend to idealize sainthood by focusing only on the great and important figures in history.  Saints Peter and Paul are good examples.  Saint John, who is our patron saint, is another.  But though some of the saints’ lives are major examples of God’s truth, the fact is that lower case “s” saints have been with us from the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, and lower case “s” saints are being made today, just as they have always been created.  That is good news for us, for it means that we, too, can become saints (with a lower case “s”!).
            3.  Saints’ lives are free from anxiety, challenge and worry I call this the “stained glass” image of the saints, you know, that image that casts the great saints of old in frozen poses which lack emotion.  But the truth is that, oftentimes, saints are most noteworthy for the struggles they faced in their lifetimes.  A good example of this is St. Athanasius, who was Bishop of Alexandria (in Egypt) in the late fourth century.  Athanasius, at times almost singlehandedly, took on the Arian heresy which was infecting the Church in his day.  Though often nearly all alone, Athanasius eventually defeated the Arian heresy.  We have him to thank for the enormous struggles and difficulties he faced (he was exiled by the emperor a number of times during his tenure as bishop), for if it hadn’t been for his faithfulness, the Church today might well have remained Arian.
            4.  Saints’ lives are marked by perpetual holiness Along with the “stained glass” image we often carry of the saints is another, related one:  The idea that saints have always been models of holiness. Again, this notion is wrong.  A good example is the great fifth century bishop and theologian St. Augustine of Hippo.  Augustine lived a pretty immoral life before God got hold of him and brought him to faith.  But once that had happened, Augustine went on to exhibit God’s holiness and to hold before God’s people and the world the great, big plans of God.
As we dispel some of the notions that surround the matter of saints and sainthood, we can begin to capture a sense that there are saints who are among us today, God’s people who have been claimed by Christ in baptism, redeemed people who then live out their baptismal covenants, showing to the world by the things they do and by the things they say that God’s great, big plans are still being worked out.
For saints and for sainthood, we give thanks to God!

AMEN.