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.
