For the Rite of Confirmation

Jeremiah 31: 31–34; Psalm 1; Romans 12: 1–8; John 20: 19–23

This is the homily by offered by Fr. Gene Tucker at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Saturday, September 30, 2017.

“STUFF”

Let’s talk about “stuff” this morning as we come to Confirmation.

The English language is such a wonderful thing, and one of the wonderful things about this language is the descriptive nature of some of its words. For example, “stuff” would be one of those….just think of the ways in which we could pronounce that word:  “Where did all this ‘stuff’ come from?” Or: “Wow! What wonderful ‘stuff’!”

We live in a world surrounded by “stuff”. Some of that “stuff” is made up of the material things that we own (or which own us), and another kind of “stuff” we have consists of our talents, abilities and personal traits. Let’s think about the objects that inhabit (or clutter up) our lives. But let’s also think about the “stuff” of our talents, abilities and personal gifts, for, in confirmation, we bring ourselves, the things that God has gifted us with, the things we do well, and ask God to send His Holy Spirit to strengthen and enable us to serve God and to serve others in God’s name.

Now, as I think about “stuff”, it seems to me that “stuff” falls into one of four categories. We can measure the value of each kind of “stuff” if we think about how we would feel if we were to share it with others, or if we gave it away.

So, let’s take a good look at “stuff”.

“Stuff” with little-or-no usefulness or value:  This is the first category of “stuff”. It consists of the things that sit in boxes or on shelves, or in piles in a closet behind closed doors. When we look at this kind of “stuff”, we might wonder where it all came from. Maybe we’d even wonder if this kind of “stuff” doesn’t multiply in the darkness. Giving this kind of “stuff” away takes no thought whatsoever. In fact, if someone were to come along and offer to take some of this kind of “stuff” away, we’d be overjoyed. “Oh, please, take it away, you’d be doing me such a big favor,” we might say. When it comes to our talents and abilities, being able to wiggle one’s ears would fall into this category…wiggling one’s ears might amuse someone who was watching, but it’s a talent that has almost no usefulness other than to amuse others.

“Stuff” we don’t really use, but can’t bring ourselves to part with: This second category consists of things like books that sit on our shelves, gathering dust. (I have a lot of those on my bookshelves at home.) When we look at them, we might be able to remember a time when these things had an active role in our lives. We might even think about reading that book that sits there, someday, or we might think that, somehow, we’ll find the time or occasion to make use of that bit of “stuff”. But for now, even though we’re not using that “stuff”, we just can’t bring ourselves to part with it, or to give it away to someone who could use it. Our talents and abilities can fall into this category, too…..we might remember a time when something that we did (or can do) well was especially useful in a particular time and place. But now, it seems that life has moved on to other tasks and to other concerns, and those gifts don’t seem to fit into the pattern of life now….maybe, for some of us, that kind of “stuff” would be a sport we played when we were younger.

“Stuff” we don’t really use, but which is valuable to us:  The third kind of “stuff” is somewhat related to the second. I can illustrate this third kind of “stuff” by telling you about my Danish grandfather’s Bible and his Lutheran Prayer Book, which sit on my shelf at home. Now, I will admit that I can understand some of what I read in those books because of the Danish language’s similarities to German. (The pronunciation of Dane is a different matter…Danish, like English, has peculiarities that are hard to grasp….maybe it’s for that reason that Danish is jokingly called, not a language, but a “throat disease”.) But, I digress. Those books that once belonged to my Grandpa Pedersen are part of who I am. They remind me of my upbringing and of the lasting impressions my grandfather had on me and on my three younger sisters. I wouldn’t want to part with grandpa’s books for anything in the world, even though I rarely have occasion to open them up and look at them. Sharing those books with someone, or giving them away, would represent the sharing or giving of a very important part of me. When it comes to our talents and abilities, we might remember a time when some of those gifts formed who we are now, traits that God might be able to use again at some point in the future, even though it doesn’t seem that what we were able to do back then has much usefulness now. I can’t resist saying that, in the Church, some of the talents we have that we offered to God at some point in the past could well be useful again in the future. So, we are reminded not to forget that we have those talents and abilities.

“Stuff” we use all the time, “stuff” that is very useful: Now, we come to the fourth category of “stuff”. This is the most important kind of “stuff”. An example of this kind of “stuff” would be the Bible, which is the written record of God’s interaction with us human beings. Being a priest, I use the Bible regularly, every day. All Christians ought to “read, mark and inwardly digest” what the Bible has to tell us, as one of the wonderful prayers in our Prayer Book says so well. Reading and studying the Bible helps us to shape the gifts and abilities God has given us. In this way, we can share some of the most valuable things we have – ourselves – with others.

Our two confirmands, Mary and Will, have come to this day of Confirmation, bringing with them the sum total of their life’s experience up to this point. Both Mary and Will have wonderful gifts, talents and abilities. Their walk with God began when they were baptized. At Baptism, they – along with all Christians - were buried with Christ in a death like his, and we are raised to a new life in a resurrection like his, as St. Paul tells us in Romans, chapter six.

In preparing for this day, Mary and Will and I have met a number of times. Along the way, we’ve been thinking about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. We’ve thought about what it means to discipline ourselves to be followers of Christ…discipline being used in this context not as punishment, but as training to learn the ways of Jesus. And, we’ve thought about what it means to be an apostle. An apostle is one who is sent out to do the work God has given us to do. Being a disciple is the first step in being able to be an apostle.

But we’ve also had some good discussions about what the Church really is. We’ve talked about how the Church is organized, so that it can do the work God has given it to do. It’s worth reminding ourselves that the Church isn’t a building, and it isn’t an institution like the Episcopal Church, or some other part of the Christian community, no, not really. The Church is people, you and me, people who have been called by God into a relationship with Jesus.

So these things make up the “stuff” of where we’ve come today, to the point where Mary and Will are ready to say, “I want to be a part of this great, big thing, I want to confirm what began at my baptism, I want to ask for the Holy Spirit’s power to help me to share the gifts and talents, the ‘stuff’ I have to offer, with others in service to Christ and to the Christ in others.”

So this is an exciting day, a day which will be like no other in Mary and Will’s lives. It’s a great day to celebrate the “stuff” of God’s call to us, and the “stuff” we bring to offer to God in return.

AMEN.

Pentecost 16, Year A (2017)

Proper 19 :: Exodus 16: 2–15 ; Psalm 105: 1–6, 37–45 ; Philippians 1: 21–30 ; Matthew 20: 1–16

This is the homily by Fr. Gene Tucker that was given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, September 24, 2017.

“GRUMBLING AND GRACE”

(Homily texts: Exodus 16: 2–15 & Matthew 20: 1-16)

Isn’t it a wonder that God continues to show His grace and mercy to us human beings, even when we are consumed with self-centered grumbling?

In essence, that is the gist of both our Old Testament lesson from Exodus, and Jesus’ Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard.[1]

In the Exodus situation, God’s people grumble because they find themselves in the wilderness, wishing to return to the (supposedly) good things they had in Egypt, because – in the wilderness – they are wondering how they are going to eat.

In the parable, Jesus paints a picture of workers who have been hired to go into a vineyard to work. But when it came time to pay all of the laborers at the end of the workday, the landowner paid those who’d been hired near the end of the day the same wage as those who’d worked the entire day.

Each case presents us with common, everyday encounters: For God’s people in the wilderness, it is natural and even necessary to wonder how they are going to survive in that harsh environment….for us, we wonder how we will have those things that we need in order to survive. In the parable, it is normal to expect that workers will be fairly treated, for hiring someone and having those hired agree to work involves a contract of sorts, whether that contract is spelling out in writing, or if it is an oral agreement (as in Jesus’ parable). Generally, our expectations are that those who work harder or longer will be compensated according to their efforts or their time spent. This last point is true especially if the conditions of hiring are based on an hourly wage.

It’s worth looking at some of the details of both situations:

Apparently, God’s people in the wilderness are suffering from amnesia, for – though they long for the “flesh pots” in Egypt – their memories are a bit selective: They are forgetting that things weren’t so good in Egypt, for they endured hard labor at the hands of the Egyptians….they were slaves, in other words.

Now, Jesus – who is a master storyteller – lays out a scenario in which the workers are hired first agree to work for the “usual daily wage”, which, in Jesus’ day, was one denarius per day[2]. Those hired later on agree to work for “whatever is right”. (Notice this fine point in Jesus’ tale.)

In both cases, a test is involved.

In the wilderness experience, God tells Moses that He intends to test the people by giving them food to eat (which is manna), and then, quail. The instructions about the manna are explicit: The manna will appear in the morning each day for six days, but on the sixth day, there will be a double portion, which God’s people are to gather up and keep for use on the seventh day, that is, the Sabbath day. The manna which falls on the six days is not to be kept overnight, but the manna which falls on the sixth day will provide a double portion, and will last until the seventh day. Therein lies the test.

Of course, we know how this test plays out: The people gathered a measure (an omer) of manna, but were told not to leave it until the next morning. The reason for this stipulation was to test whether or not the people would trust God to provide more manna for them the next morning. When some tried to keep the manna overnight, it spoiled and became filled with worms.

Likewise, in the parable, the test involves the agreement between the landowner and the workers, those who were hired after the beginning of the day, who the landowner hired at a wage that was “whatever is right”. The test is greater for those who were hired last, for, if they relied on their normal life’s experience, would not have expected that it would be worthwhile to work for an hour or so. Nevertheless, they went out to work anyway.

The Church to whom Matthew may have been writing was composed (many biblical scholars today agree) of both Jews and Gentiles. Those who were not born as children of Abraham, but who had come to faith in Jesus later on, may have felt that they were latecomers to being a Christian believer. Today’s parable may have been the source of great comfort to them, for the latecomers in the parable are rewarded just the same way as those who had worked earlier on.

Holy Scripture presents us with challenges. One of those challenges involves the question, “What is God trying to tell us in these stories and accounts?” Put another way, we could ask ourselves, “What in the experience of these ancient peoples can we learn from and apply to our own walk with God?”

Perhaps the lesson to be gained, and the truth to be applied to our own lives from today’s appointed readings is this: God’s grace and goodness are God’s alone to give. Given the lack of faith that God’s people had shown in their trek out of Egypt and into the wilderness, God didn’t owe them a thing. Yet God preserved His people by giving them food to eat, just as He had already preserved His people by making it possible for them to cross the Red Sea. In the same way, Jesus’ parable points out the goodness and generosity of God, who gives His blessing and His gifts not because He has to, but because He wants to, and not in direct measure to our efforts.

One final point is in order: In Jesus’ day, Judaism was caught up in measuring how well people were keeping the Law of Moses. And part of that score-keeping involved relying on God to reward people in relation to their faithfulness. One example of this sort game of  “If I do this for you, you owe me _____” can be found in the expectation in those days was that if a person was healthy and/or wealthy, then that person’s condition must be due to that person’s faithful living. Some of Jesus’ parables deal directly with this mistaken notion.

We can’t keep score with God, for to do so raises the possibility that we will be trying to earn God’s favor by what we do. We can only earn God’s favor in one way, and that way involves giving up ourselves to God, in order for God to remold and remake us, so that we can be effective witnesses to God’s goodness in the world about us. God will reward us for that faithful work, but according to God’s reckoning, not ours. What we can be sure of, and what our readings today tell us, is that God is a generous God, showering His people will blessings which cannot be numbered.

We have a wonderful prayer (collect) in our Book of Common Prayer which captures the sense of all this. It can be found on page 394, and is one of the collects which can be used after the Prayers of the People. It reads:

“Heavenly Father, you have promised to hear what we ask in the Name of our son: Accept and fulfill our petitions, we pray, not as we ask in our ignorance, nor as we deserve in our sinfulness, but as you know and love us in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

       

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[1]   Matthew alone records this parable for us.

[2]   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible substitutes the word “denarius” which is found in the Greek text for the phrase “usual daily wage”, probably because most contemporary readers will not know that the denarius was the daily wage 2,000 years ago.

Pentecost 15, Year A (2017)

Proper 19 :: Exodus 14: 19–31; Psalm 114; Romans 14: 1–12; Matthew 18: 21–35

This is the homily by Fr. Gene Tucker that was given at St. John’s in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, September 17, 2017.

“CONDUITS OF GOD’S FORGIVENESS”

(Homily text: Matthew 18: 21–35)

Ever think of yourself as a conduit, a pipeline, an electrical wire, whose purpose is to receive God’s forgiveness, God’s mercy, God’s goodness, and God’s power, and then to pass all of those good things on to others?

Today’s Gospel text makes it clear that, as God supplies (in this case) forgiveness for our transgressions, we are – in turn – to pass along that forgiveness to others. In this connection, we are reminded of the Lord’s admonition in the petition that is part of the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our transgressions, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Matthew’s record of Jesus’ teaching, as is found in Matthew 7: 14–15 (immediately following the giving of the Lord’s Prayer), goes on to say, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you.”

This morning’s text records Peter’s response to the Lord’s teaching which we heard last Sunday, in which Jesus outlines the ways in which offenses are to be dealt with in the Church. So Peter’s question naturally follows last week’s topic, as he asks the Lord, “How many times should I forgive a brother or sister?” Jesus’ answer is – in essence – that we are to forgive in limitless amounts.

Now, we followers of Jesus have a problem, a problem we share with the rest of humanity: We are keenly aware of the things we need in order to survive and to thrive. We need food, water, a place to live, clothing, companionship, love, forgiveness (today’s subject) and so many other things.

But we are, oftentimes, not as aware of the need that others have for those very same things.

Today’s teaching admonishes us not to allow our pipeline, our conduit, to become blocked. For if it does, we have failed in our mission to God and to others. We cannot receive God’s forgiveness (or any of those other things) if we are unwilling to allow those things to pass through us and on to others.

We are the connection – perhaps the only connection – that others often have to God. As we live out the Gospel imperatives, we are commanded to place our hands and hearts in God’s service, and to turn around and place our hands and hearts in the service of others. We are called to be a conduit for God’s goodness, mercy, forgiveness and love.

AMEN.

Pentecost 14, Year A (2017)

Proper 18 :: Ezekiel 33: 7–11; Psalm 119: 33–40; Romans 13: 8–14; Matthew 18: 15-20

This is the homily by Fr. Gene Tucker that was given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, PA on Sunday, September 10, 2017.

“GOD’S PEOPLE – A LIGHT TO THE WORLD”

(Homily texts:  Ezekiel 33: 7–11, Romans 13: 8–14, and Matthew 18: 15–20)

At times, the Scripture readings that are assigned for our hearing and consideration are quite well matched, sharing a consistent theme. That seems to be the case with our three main readings for this morning, all of which have to do with the ways in which we – as God’s people – relate to one another, and – in turn – how we relate to the world around us.

The Old Testament lesson, from the sixth century BC prophet Ezekiel, admonishes us to acknowledge and to deal with sinful behavior in a brother or sister. Likewise, the Gospel text for this morning, from Matthew, chapter eighteen, prescribes a method for church discipline involving a member of the Church. And, finally, St. Paul admonishes us to “owe no one anything except to love one another.”

Let’s be honest with one another:  Sin is never a popular topic for consideration or discussion. But – given the fact that each one of us is capable of sinning – we must admit that, at times, some means of dealing with wrongdoing (what Ezekiel calls “wickedness”) is necessary. Such a mechanism ensures that the people of God will be able to be a bright light, shining in the darkness of the world around us. Such a mechanism enables the members of the faith community to integrate their personal and inner selves with their outer and public personas.

To grasp the idea of light, shining in the darkness of the world, we ought to turn back to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, who wrote that the people of God, ancient Israel, were to be given as a “light to the Gentiles”. (see Isaiah 42: 6.)

In due course, the followers of Jesus, those who would come to constitute the Church, saw themselves as the successors of ancient Israel, a new Israel. They, too, knew that God had called them to bring light into the darkness of Greco-Roman world of the first century.

The efficiency of the light-bearers is what is at stake. Matthew[1] records Jesus’ teaching about the means by which each light-bearer will be fitted out for bearing the greatest amount of light possible. We would do well to examine what Matthew passes along to us in more detail:

The first thing we might notice is that the matter which sets the disciplinary process in motion is wrongdoing that has surfaced to the point where someone else in the faith community has noticed that there is a problem. No longer is the offense limited to one’s own, personal temptations or inclinations, which – we must admit – is the origin of all sin.

But the Lord lays out a progression of events which is to follow the reality of publicly observable sin: The offender is to be approached by the individual who has been sinned against. Here, we see consideration for the sinner is in view: At this point, the sin is not a matter of wider or generally-known knowledge.

So, if the initial stage of encounter results in a cessation of the sin and a restoration of the sinner, then all is well, and the matter remains entirely personal, confidential and private.

But if not, then the discoverer of the offense is called to widen the net of inquiry, taking along two or three witnesses to corroborate the nature of the encounter between sinner and discoverer. Here, we see traditional Jewish legal practice at work: No one could be convicted of an offense under the Law unless there were at least two witnesses to establish the truth of the charges.[2]

However, if this step does not restore and reform the offender, then the entire body of believers, that is, the Church, is to be consulted.

At this point, it would be good for us to notice that, for Matthew’s Church, apparently things were run by congregational action. There were, apparently, no clergy as we would know them in Matthew’s faith community.

Now, the final step has caused some difference of understanding: Jesus says that, if the offender still won’t repent, then they are to be treated as a “Gentile or a tax collector”. Some have taken this to mean that the person is to be expelled from the community, to be shunned (as some Christian communities continue to do today). But another understanding holds that – following Jesus’ example – Gentiles and tax collectors are to be pursued until they come to faith, for that is what the Lord did: He hung out with tax collectors and associated with non-Jewish people. (I leave it to your own reflection as to the meaning of the Lord’s intent.)

Why is all of this important?

The first reason has to do with sinfulness, our own sinfulness and our ability to fall short of God’s standard of holiness and righteousness. Unfortunately, though we may have been baptized and have put on Christ as we pass through the waters of Baptism, we have not fully shed our old nature, which is in rebellion against God and against God’s will. Our old nature continues to battle with our new nature in Christ, as St. Paul acknowledges so well in Romans, chapter eight. So, given this reality (and we might as well be bluntly aware of this fact), we must admit that any one of us can fall into sin.

If the God who loves us, and the God whom we love and serve, were a stern judge, but not a loving God, then we would be condemned for our inclinations and our acting on those inclinations. But the God whose properties include both law and grace, both holiness and mercy, offers His forgiveness to all who seek it. So God has provided the means for restoring us to wholeness of relationship.

The process of ever-increasing levels of holiness in God’s people can be an awesome thing to witness. Consider, for example, someone who’s been redeemed and rescued from a drug addiction: That person, who has come into a close and enduring relationship with the Lord, offers the world a compelling witness to God’s love and God’s power.

Finally, the Church – which is made up of people – is often accused by outsiders as being a place that is inhabited by hypocrites. (No doubt many of us have heard such comments.) A hypocrite is a person with “low judgment”, which is the word’s root meaning in Greek. Today’s Old Testament lesson and our Gospel text call us to be mindful of the ways in which we can fall victim to being people with “low judgment”. Corrective action, not ignorance or turning a blind eye away, is the default position that God calls those who are His followers to. As God’s people, we are called to live lives of integrity, lives in which our insides match our outsides.

Only in that way may we be bright and shining beacons of light and hope to the world.

AMEN.

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[1]   Matthew alone provides this account of the Lord’s teaching.

[2]   Recall that, at Jesus’ trial, two false witnesses came forward to accuse the Lord. See Matthew 26: 60.

Pentecost 13, Year A (2017)

Proper 17 :: Exodus 3: 1–15; Psalm 105: 1–6, 23–26, 45c; Romans 12: 9–21;  16: 21–28

This is the homily given by Fr. Gene Tucker at St. John’s, Huntingdon, on Sunday, September 3, 2017.

“PETER, A DISCIPLE-IN-TRAINING”

(Homily text:  Matthew 16: 21–28)

In last Sunday’s gospel text, we heard Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah. On that occasion, Peter said, “You (Jesus) are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Now, this Sunday, as Jesus warns His disciples about the events that will happen to Him once He goes to Jerusalem, we hear Peter’s denial, as he says to the Lord, “God forbid it, Lord, this must never happen to you.”

Peter is on a spiritual roller coaster ride:  Last week, he was at the top of the ride, exclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah, the expected One that God’s chosen people had been waiting for. Now, this week, Peter stands in the way of the Lord’s plans, and so the Lord responds to Peter with a sharp rebuke: “Get behind me, Satan![1] You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (From this low point in Peter’s conditioning to be a disciple, he will ascend to another high point as he goes – along with James and John – to the mountaintop where he will witness the glory of God that Jesus possesses as Jesus is transfigured before them.)

Let’s back up to last week’s event, the one in which Peter acknowledges Jesus’ identity as the Messiah.

Perhaps, at the time, Peter thought that that was all there was that anyone needed to know:  Jesus is God’s anointed One, the Messiah. What more could anyone want to know? What more was there to understand? After all, with the arrival of the Messiah, doesn’t that mean that the golden age that so many people had been waiting for had arrived? Maybe these things ran through Peter’s mind.

But, it turns out, Peter still has a lot to learn.

Peter’s desire to hold onto the wonderful feeling that knowing that God’s promises had been fulfilled is entirely normal. Don’t we, once we’ve grasped some great truth, want to hold onto not only that truth itself, but to the moment in which that truth is known? We want to stay at the mountaintop, basking in the warmth of that feeling.

But Peter’s journey into discipleship, and our journey, means that we, Peter and us, must come down from the mountaintop of knowing Jesus’ true identity, as we walk into the depths of the unpleasant realities of  pathways of life that will, inevitably, lie before us. To do so is to see things from God’s perspective, not from a human point-of-view. For Jesus tells Peter bluntly that, to deny the fact that unpleasant things lie ahead, is to think from a human perspective. As rewarding as it was for Jesus to tell Peter in last week’s gospel text that knowing that Jesus is the Messiah isn’t something that Peter came to know by normal, human means; in today’s text, the Lord’s sharp rebuke shoves the unpleasant truth that Peter has abandoned looking at things from God’s perspective right in Peter’s face. What Peter is seeing, the Lord affirms, comes from the way people see things, not as God sees them.

It will take Peter awhile to get the full picture of what God is up to in sending Jesus to be the Messiah. That picture will involve all the “good stuff” of healing, teaching, caring for people, and rebuking the corrupt leadership of the scribes and the Pharisees. But the picture also involves walking the way of the cross, the horribly “bad stuff” of suffering and death.

The “good stuff” and the “bad stuff” come together in the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday morning. Then it is that Peter will know that God has been present in all these things, both the good and the bad. Then it is that Peter will know that the God who sent Jesus is a God who is willing to get in the trenches of life with us, bearing with us the “bad stuff” of suffering, loss, pain and separation. Then it is that Peter will know that the bad stuff of life cannot conquer the good stuff, for God’s power is able to bear us up as we walk through the depths of life, delivering us from all that would separate us from God’s power and God’s love.

A wonderful collect which is used in the Daily Office of Morning Prayer sums up these things quite well. It is the Collect for Fridays,[2] which reads as follows:

“Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ, your son our Lord. Amen.”

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[1]   Satan is a word that originates in Hebrew, and which makes its way through Greek and Latin into English. It’s root meaning is “adversary” or “enemy”.

[2]   This collect may be found on page 99 of the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.