Proper 17 :: Deuteronomy 4: 1–2, 6–9; Psalm 15; James
1: 17–27; Mark 7: 1–8, 14–15, 21–23
This is the homily
given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday,
September 2, 2018.
Each
of us is born with a God-sized hole in our hearts.
I
wish I could claim the credit for having thought that up, but I can’t. (I can’t
remember who said it, or where I heard it, either.)
If
anything is true about the human condition, and about our relationship to God,
this saying certainly is. The basis for this truth lies in Genesis 1: 26, 27,
where we read that God created humankind in His image, and after His likeness.
Dig to the bottom of this truth, and we discover that – in essence – it is
telling us that we can relate to God because God instilled in each and every
one of us the ability to relate to Him. So – if we put it another way – we are “hard-wired”
to be aware of God, and to know God (as much as any human being can know Him
this side of heaven). But knowing God doesn’t come automatically. The sad truth
is that we human beings are easily side-tracked into other interests and other
pursuits in life. We will need the presence and the prodding of the Holy Spirit
to keep us focused on our need for God to come and fill up that hole He created
within us.
When
we come together as we have this morning, one of the things we are about doing
is filling that God-sized hole in our own hearts and minds. We come to hear
Holy Scripture read, we come to hear a homily which attempts (at least) to
break open the Word of God, we come to enter into this sacred and holy space so
that we can use all of our senses to draw near to the holiness of God. We also
come to the holy table of the Eucharist to receive the Body and the Blood of
Christ, to commune (coming from the Latin, this word means “to be one with”)
with the Lord. All of these things, each in their own way, benefit us, allowing
God to fill that God-sized hole each of us was created to have.
But
we are about something unique and wonderful this morning: We are celebrating
the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Little William Charles Cruikshank’s journey with
God begins in a unique way this morning, as he is acknowledged to be the child
of God that he already is. In Baptism, he begins a journey to come to know the
Lord, and to know Him personally. It will be the job of his parents, his
grandparents, great-grandparents, friends, other church members, all of us, to
help him to open his heart to God, so that God can fill that God-sized hole
more and more.
For
as we have walked the way of faith with God ourselves, we have come to know
that nothing else will fill that God-sized hole we were given at birth. By our
words, by our actions, by our loving support for little William, we can show
him the way to God, in order that his God-sized hole will be filled, too.
So,
come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in us the fire of
your love, for nothing else can satisfy our need and our longing for you.
AMEN.
