I Samuel 3:1 – 20 / Psalm 139:1 – 5, 12 – 17 / I Corinthians 6:12 – 20 / John 1:43 – 51
This
is the homily prepared for St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene
Tucker for Sunday, January 17, 2021.
“I WILL GIVE YOU AS A
LIGHT TO THE NATIONS”
(Isaiah 49:6b)
(Disclaimer
notice: Normally, I compose a homily based on the Gospel reading appointed for
the day, or perhaps both the Gospel and the Old Testament readings. But today,
I write in the wake of the mayhem that took place at the U.S. Capitol building last Wednesday,
January 6th. As a result of that attack on this sacred space, the
threads of our nation’s fabric have been strained. They might even be a bit torn.
I write as an observer of these things, as an observer of our social and
spiritual health, and as an American citizen who cares deeply for this country
and its welfare, but also as a person of faith. In my writing, I will attempt
to steer clear of partisanship and politics…you know that I strive to keep such
things out of our parish’s life. What I write here is composed with the goal of
prompting your own responses and reflections, that each of us might allow the
light of God, made known through Jesus Christ, shine brightly into a dark and
darkened world. May that goal be attained, through God’s grace.)
“May you
live in interesting times.” So states the familiar saying. Perhaps, in the wake
of the violence that took place on January 6th, and in the wake of
the violence and rioting that have affected so many of our nation’s cities and
communities in the last six months or so, we might amend that saying to put the
truth of the matter this way: “We live in difficult, uncertain and perilous
times.” Indeed, I believe, we do live in such times.
Not that we
haven’t been in such places before in our nation’s history. One such example
comes from my early days in Washington, D.C., where I was stationed in the
Army. I recall vividly the anti-war protests during the Vietnam War era. They were
massive, although they seemed to differ from our recent upheavals in the amount
of property damage that resulted (if my memory serves me correctly).
Our Lord
stated a truth about human nature. He said, “…what comes out of the mouth
proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.” (Matthew 15:18) Here we
have an essential truth: A person’s speech and a person’s actions arise from
the heart, from the innermost parts of a person’s imagination and thought. A
look into the thinking and imagining that people engage in might be a good
place to start, if we are to understand where such destructive impulses
originate.
Violence! We live,
today, in a culture and in a society that is immersed in violent images. Our
movies, television shows and video games are filled with images of graphic
violence. It can be enlightening to watch some of the movies from a bygone age
on the old movie channels on television. Overall, one comes away from watching
them with the impression that they upheld moral behavior and values that built
up society. Even when an old movie depicted violence, it was, generally, with
the goal of illustrating what such behavior does to people.
We know we “are
what we eat” (to cite another old saying). We know that when we indulge in a
poor diet, one filled with food that had little nutritional value, or one that
is genuinely harmful, our health will suffer. But do we think about what
happens to our mental health when we fill our minds and imaginations with the
visual equivalence of junk food?
Personal
liberty run amok: We
Americans value our individual liberties and constitutionally-guaranteed
rights, and well we should. (It can be an eye-opening experience to go to a
part of the world where such guarantees don’t exist.) But our personal
liberties have taken on an aura of personal license to do whatever one wants.
Aided by the values of postmodernism, which exalts the centrality of the
individual, and which views any authority outside of the self with suspicion
(it is from such a place that conspiracy theories abound, oftentimes), the
individual feels empowered to put themselves and their own welfare ahead of the
welfare of others, or of society.
As I survey
our society, I believe these two threads are a key part of the underlying
strata which forms the foundation for widespread violence, destruction and
misbehavior. (Undoubtedly, there are others.)
Now, with
the events of January 6th still in view, we know that such violence
and lawlessness can come from any quarter of the political spectrum.
I began
this homily with a quote from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah: “I will give
you as a light to the nations….” Isaiah was writing to God’s people in trying
times, a time when many of them had been deported to Babylon and were living in
exile. But God told His people that they were going to go home, not for the
purpose of their own welfare alone, not so that they could enjoy being in their
own place and land, but for the welfare of the world in general.
Today, you
and I, as Christian believers, constitute the New Israel. And it might seem as
though we’re in exile, looking in on a world gone awry, a world which doesn’t
seem to want to heed God’s voice, nor to live according to God’s wishes.
But to us,
God says today, “I am giving you as a light to the nations.”
How so?
The early
Christians prevailed over the Greco-Roman world and the Roman Empire by
wielding the power of love. Of the early Christians, onlookers would say, “See
how those Christians love each other.” Today, we are called to show by our actions
what we harbor in our hearts, returning to our Lord’s instruction in Matthew
chapter fifteen, cited above.
We can
begin by remembering that each and every individual person is a child of God, a
person who’s been uniquely created by God, and who is loved by God. No matter
what that person says, does or how they act, that truth stands.
If we
believe this truth, then, we are called to reach out in love, eschewing any
radical approaches to belief or debate. We are called not to engage in any form
of violence, whether that violence comes by actions, or by words. We are called
to respectfully treat others and to listen to them in love, even if what they
say or do is deeply offensive. How else will we ever dissuade such persons from
their beliefs, if we don’t do that? Arguing or maintaining extreme positions
won’t carry the day, I wager.
As
Episcopalians, inheritors of the Anglican way of being a Christian, we are
uniquely situated to live out this way of being, for our way of being a Christian
values moderation. And in addition, this way of being a follower of Jesus
Christ values tolerance for widely differing perspectives. We always have
maintained those values (although in recent times, they have been threatened in
our own faith community). Perhaps it’d be a good thing to rediscover our roots,
those roots which uphold tolerance and moderation.
And, as
citizens of this wonderful country, it might also be a good thing if we were to
uphold honesty in government and in governing, and to stand against the political
extremes which seem to dominate so much of our political discourse these days.
In times of
darkness, and in such a time as this, when there is no shortage of darkness,
the light of Christ must shine brightly and steadily. It will shine when God’s
people, each one of us, lights Christ’s candle, kindled in our hearts.
Together, the brightness of each flame will push back the present darkness. To
this we are called.
The Collect
appointed for this day is quite suitable to what we’ve been saying:
“Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 215
