tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-385453882024-03-27T02:35:09.498-04:00Friar Tuck's SermonsSermons given by Fr. Gene R. Tucker,
a priest who has retired from the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger839125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-63947980399718653052023-07-30T10:00:00.001-04:002023-07-30T10:00:00.152-04:00Pentecost 9, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Proper
12 :: Psalm 119:129 – 136 / Romans 8:26
– 39 / Matthew 13:31 – 33, 44 – 52</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, July
30, 2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“HEAR A TALE OF THREE CHURCHES”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily texts: Romans 8:26 – 39 & Matthew 13:31 – 33, 44
- 52)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning, let’s hear a tale of
three churches.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The first church we will hear about is a
small parish in a community that is about twice the size of Huntingdon.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is composed of an older
congregation, but one that has some children and youth in it. It has
experienced what many smaller parishes have experienced, as some of its members
have moved away to be closer to family, while others have died. As a
consequence, its average Sunday attendance is now about half of what it was
some fifteen years ago or so.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The parish, in recent times, has been
served by two priests. One of them had a very long tenure in the parish, while
the other had a short tenure. But the blunt truth is that both of these
priests’ tenures ended badly, very badly. Their tenures ended in very troubling
circumstances. As the second priest’s tenure was coming to an end, the Bishop
told the congregation that, if they didn’t stick together, their church would
be a “flower shop” in times to come. The Vestry, when they heard that comment,
resented it deeply. But the truth was that the parish felt betrayed by the
actions of their two Rectors. When a new Rector came on board, the look of
distrust in people’s eyes was noticeable…they seemed to be saying “Are you
going to let us down, too?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A priest who had recently served the
parish left over two years ago, and so, in that period of time, the parish has
had to “make do” with services of Morning Prayer, and occasional visits by
diocesan clergy and others, who have presided over the Holy Eucharist. On
August 1<sup>st</sup> (this Tuesday), a new clergy person is coming to serve
them, finally.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The second church we will hear about
this morning is a large place in a large city. I say “large”, because its
physical plant (the church and the education building) are a sizeable space.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But the church, some years back, was
experiencing the cumulative effect of many years of poor decisions and bad
management. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This comment deserves a closer look.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This second church was served by a
good-sized staff. In addition, its priest openly made comments that they were
there in the church, not to serve the Lord and the Lord’s people, but to
enlarge their church pension benefits.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In time, that priest did retire to
collect those higher benefits. And a replacement came on board, a good person
whose heart was in the right place. But, unfortunately, that priest’s tenure
was cut short after only a year by an untimely and unexpected death. Sunday
attendance declined by about half.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The parish’s Vestry described those
times as being the “depths” of despair. The priest’s death, combined with the
accumulated effects of poor management of the parish’s assets, had led the
parish to the point of insolvency.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There was very little money in the
bank, and the diocese was sending dunning letters, seeking about a quarter of
what the parish had to work with. Furthermore, the church’s roof leaked,
badly…there were large pans in some of the pews to catch the rain water that
come through the leaks. (Imagine how that looked to visitors and newcomers!)
Not only did the church’s roof leak, but the parish house’s roof did the same.
The parish house looked like an abandoned building, its paint peeling and some
of its boards warped.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You see, the problem with this second
church is that it was accustomed to being able to live well beyond its means
for a long time. Maintaining a large staff when the size of the parish was
getting smaller, going through endowment funds to pay current expenses, and the
neglect of the physical properties of the place, all had taken their toll. At
the root of their problems was the attitude that, in the past, anyone who was
anybody in the community would be sure to be a member of that parish. Alas,
that reality had ceased to exist a long time before, but few seemed willing to
admit that times had changed.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The third church we will hear about is
a small parish – like the first – in a small community, one which is a bit
smaller than the first.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It has a history of clergy who’ve
served the parish for short periods of time, perhaps one, two or three years.
Two of its recent Rectors had a longer tenure than that.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The parish was rocked by scandal some
years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This parish, too, like the first one we
considered this morning, has seen a decline in its membership, as some have
moved away so as to be closer to family, while others have died. It has, like
the first parish, an older demographic among its members. But it also has some
younger members and some children.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By now, perhaps you’ve guessed that I’m
relating descriptions of three churches I have served. And, I might as well
tell you, this third church is our own St. John’s in Huntingdon.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All three of these churches, for all
the challenges that they faced, had one thing in common, one thing that was a mighty
asset for them: They were composed of members who were determined not to let
their church die away and go away.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That first church, as they picked up
the pieces from the end of the tenure of their second Rector, resented the
Bishop’s comment that they might soon become a “flower shop”. But at the same
time, they were determined to prove the Bishop wrong. (In time, the Bishop came
to regret having made the remark.) But it’s possible that predicted future for
the parish was part of the call to action to be sure that they – the parish’s
members – were going to be the one to build up the parish’s future.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And what about that second church?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It, too, was composed of a group that
was determined not to let their parish go away. Fundraisers were held, a number
of them. Plans were made to repair the roof on the Parish House, and to repaint
and repair its exterior. (Yes, even the priest got involved in the car washes
that were a part of the fundraising activity.) Expenses were pared to the bone.
A balanced budget was adopted. Attendance picked up, after having fallen by
about one-half. And, in time, the church itself got a new roof. No more drain
pans in the pews to catch the leaking rain water.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As their organist left for a better
position, a new organist was brought on board.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The diocese was told that they couldn’t
have the one-quarter of the parish’s assets that were overdue, and – in time –
the Bishop forgave that overdue amount.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, what about St. John’s in
Huntingdon?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Like the other churches, this parish
church has experienced its ups and its downs. It functions in an age when the
Church has – in large measure – been cast aside by the society in which it
finds itself.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Its future seems uncertain. The
prospect of having a new Rector might seem to be remote, at this point.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, St. John’s has some important
strengths upon which to rely.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Among them is a physical plant that is
in excellent condition (thanks to our wonderful Sexton and to the Vestry that
has consistently provided the means to keep this place in good shape). Its
physical plant isn’t too large to maintain, like the second place we talked
about this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Furthermore, St. John’s isn’t down to
its final few dollars, like that second place was.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, St. John’s people are
determined – most of them, I’ll wager – to support this church and its
ministries going forward. In that sense, St. John’s shares strengths that the
other two churches we’ve talked about this morning also possess.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So what of the future?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It might well be that St. John’s won’t
find a new Rector for awhile. Such is the reality of the Episcopal Church these
days (as is the case with many other parts of the Christian family). The Church
doesn’t make getting ordained any easier (my own process took seven years!).
Then, there is the ability of a parish church to support a clergy member
(medical insurance, pension costs, salary, benefits and other costs)….all these
things make it difficult to financially hire and keep a Rector.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But the Rector – any Rector – isn’t the
church! What good news.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Rector is called to be a spiritual
leader, to be one who encourages others to take up the ministries that God is
calling them to do….that’s what I did in each of the three churches I am
talking about this morning (now you know that I was relating personal
experience in each of the three places).<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think, since we’re talking about
encouragement, our reading from Paul’s letter to the early churches in Rome,
and our Lord’s parable about the mustard seed, offer us some encouragement.
Paul says that, “if God is for us, who can be against us?”. And our Lord
reminds us of the small beginnings of things, things like the kingdom of God
and the Church which is called to proclaim that kingdom and to assist in
bringing that kingdom into being. The kingdom begins with small beginnings, but
in time matures into a mighty thing. These two thoughts ought to offer us
encouragement and the guarantee that God’s power and God’s will will overcome
any and all obstacles that might lie in our path.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Going forward, looking forward, my
deepest wish and fondest prayer for St. John’s is that it will continue to be
faithful to the faith as it’s been received, to keep the “main thing the main
thing”, and to avoid falling into putting attention into any number of other
concerns – valuable and worthy as they might be – that would distract this
parish church from its primary calling, which is to “connect God to people and
people to God, and to encourage this relationship”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You will be in my prayers going forward.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.</span></b> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-21696748642577373092023-07-23T10:00:00.001-04:002023-07-23T10:00:00.142-04:00Pentecost 8, Year A (2023)<p><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Proper
11 :: Genesis 28:10–19a / Psalm 139:1–11,
22–23 / Romans 8:12–25 / Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is the homily given at St. John’s,
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 23, 2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.</span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“I DON’T MUCH LIKE THIS PARABLE”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matthew 13:24–30, 36-43)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We continue, as the season of Pentecost
unfolds, to make our way through Matthew’s Gospel account, hearing - in
succession - one of Jesus’ parables after another.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning, we hear a teaching about
good and evil in the world, a parable often known by the title the Parable of
the Wheat and the Tares.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I will admit to you that much about
this parable bothers me. I find its teaching to be one that is hard to accept.
I don’t much like the truth it proclaims.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why would that be, you might ask.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The reason is that our Lord tells us
that – in the world – evil and good will continue to exist, side-by-side, until
God’s purposes for all things are complete. At that point, God’s holiness and
God’s perfection will be known in the world, and power of evil will come to an
end. (I can’t help but reflect on that state of perfection and holiness which
is to come, because it resembles the situation in the Garden of Eden before sin
entered it.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But my objections to this parable and
to the truth it proclaims comes from a deep desire to see evil banished from
the world. I would love to see all things that we human beings do to one
another that denigrate others, that harm them, that diminish their God-given rights
be a thing of the past. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In other words, I’d like to see God
“smite all the evil-doers”, as a friend of mine says.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Come Lord, and usher in your kingdom
in all its fulness and in all its power,” is my prayer. Bring in the time when
the circumstances on earth resemble those in heaven, as we pray in the Lord’s
Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But this state of earthly perfection
isn’t what our Lord tells us is going to be. The truth of today’s parable is
that the struggle between good and God and evil and the Evil One will continue
until God’s power and God’s timing are in effect.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ugh!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Given this reality, then, we who are
God’s people in the world, are faced with a choice. It seems to me that we have
two options when it comes to dealing with the ongoing activity and threat where
the Evil One’s ways and power in the world are concerned.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One choice is to hunker down and
withdraw from the world. Build a holy community, surround it with walls, and
ignore the world and the evil in it. That’s one choice, and it’s a choice that
some Christians in times past (and even today) have made.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The other choice is to see evil for
what it is, to recognize it, and to continue to be a force for good and a force
for God in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This second choice is indicated in the
parable.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An explanation is in order: The weeds
that our Lord describes aren’t just any sort of weed. The word Jesus uses to
describe the weeds refers to a rye-like plant called <i>darnel.</i> Darnel, in
its early stages of growth, resembles wheat. It is only later on, when the
growth has reached some level of maturity, that the difference can be seen.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In this detail about the parable, one
which is often lost in translations, we see that those who’ve been looking at
the field (the world, as Jesus tells us in His explanation of the meaning of
the parable) notice the darnel for what it is. They’ve been looking at the
makeup of the field.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The point here, then, is that God’s
people are to be on the lookout for evil whenever and wherever it manifests
itself.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The next thing we ought to notice is
that Jesus tells us that the darnel isn’t to be removed from the field, for in
so doing, the wheat – that force for good which gives the field and the crop in
it value and worth – would be removed.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Implied here is that the worth of the
field lies in the continued presence of that which gives it value.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Church is God’s vehicle for good in
the world. We are called to proclaim God’s truth, and to counteract the effects
of sin and evil, those things that separate people one from another and which
separate us from God. If the Church doesn’t do these things, then the field
(the world) has little value.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One final thought: In order to be God’s
agent in the world for good, the Church must keep its focus on its core values
and reason-for-being. It’s easy to get caught up in various causes and concerns
which offer some level of attraction. But the Church’s business is to connect
people to God and God to people, and to nourish that relationship. Anything
else and everything else is secondary to the reason that God founded the Church
in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-24542989757547689702023-07-16T10:00:00.004-04:002023-07-16T15:24:01.828-04:00Pentecost 7, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>Proper
10 :: </b></span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Isaiah 55:10 – 13 / Psalm 119:105 – 112 / Romans 8:1 – 11 / Matthew 13:1
– 9, 18 – 23</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, July
16, 2023, by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“THE FOUR SOILS”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Matthew 13:1 – 9, 18 – 23)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning, we hear Jesus’ wonderful
parable about the four soils. As I think about this familiar teaching, I think
it functions on more than one level.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At one level, it informs Christians
about the responses they are likely to encounter as they go out into the world,
sharing the Good News (Gospel) of God’s great love, seen in the sending of
Jesus Christ. Surely, the church of which Matthew may have been a part was
experiencing the various responses and reactions that Jesus outlines as they
lived their lives in the middle-to-late first century.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps these early Christians asked
themselves, “Why do some people, when they hear the Good News, reject it? Or
why do others seem to accept it, but then fail to live into it? And why do some
accept the Good News, live into it, and are forever changed?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It seems to me that the reactions those
early Christians experienced are much the same ones that we Christians today
experience. Why is it, for example, that some people reject the Good News,
which – to us who have come to believe – makes so much good sense? (This is to
cite but one example of the reactions that we are likely to encounter.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Alas, what we’re asking ourselves about
is a mystery, something that is beyond our knowing.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today’s parable also functions at the
personal level of the individual believer, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let me explain.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I am being totally honest about it,
I find within my own heart, mind and soul conditions that resemble each of the
four soils described in today’s parable.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At times, my heart and mind are deeply
attuned to the things of God, and there’s an intense love affair going on with
Him. At other times, however, the cares of everyday life seem to grab my
attention, crowding out the things of God. (Are you there with this condition?
I certainly am.) At still other times, my heart is rocky and hard, so hard, in
fact, that it seems like God’s love and God’s truths can’t take root at all.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we’re honest with ourselves, and if
we recognize the nature of everyday living, then I think we have to admit that
most of us experience some level of differences in our relationship to God.
Probably there are very few among us whose hearts are so completely and
faithfully oriented toward the things of God most or all of the time. In some
cases, those who are that way we call Saints (with a capital “S”).<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What can be done to deal with the
realities of the responses that our Lord lays out before us? Is there any way
to deal with the thorn-infested soil of a person’s heart? Is there a way to
break up the hardness of a rock-solid heart? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Indeed, I think, there are solutions,
and they fall into the realm of the work of the Holy Spirit, and into our role
as bearers of the Good News.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit’s
role to cultivate the conditions for the Good News of God to take root in a
person’s heart. The Spirit informs, enlightens, convicts and empowers a person
to be able to respond to the things of God. We human beings are incapable,
absent the Holy Spirit’s work and presence, to do anything positive in this
regard. (I am sure that St. Augustine of Hippo would agree!)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think, however, that we Christians
also have a part to play. It’s our job to proclaim by word and by example the
Good News of God in Christ, as our Baptismal Covenant states so well. In so
doing, we give the Holy Spirit some tools with which to work, kind of like
being a good tool (hoes, shovels, rakes, e.g.) for managing the growth of
things in a garden. The things we do, the things we say, the ways in which we
live, are all ways that demonstrate the truth of the Good News, and the Good
News’ ability to change people forever and for the truest good.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May the Holy Spirit enable and empower
us for the work of ministry in the Lord’s name, that our witness may be of use
to the Spirit’s work.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-64773342412227920322023-07-09T10:00:00.001-04:002023-07-09T10:00:00.138-04:00Pentecost 6, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Proper
9 :: Zechariah 9:9 – 12 / Psalm 45:11 – 18 / Romans 7:15 – 25a Matthew 11:16 – 19, 25 – 30</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 9,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE: IS THE GLASS HALF-EMPTY, OR HALF FULL?”</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Matthew 11:16 – 19. 25 – 30)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each and every generation of human
beings, as they move from birth into life in each of its stages, must make a
choice about their views of life and the situations that life presents to them.
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That choice has to do with how they
will view the events and challenges that will inevitably come with living,
choices that have to do with whether or not their outlook on life is positive
or negative. Put another way, the choice is to see things and challenges as a
glass that is half-empty, or half-full.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the time of our Lord’s earthly
ministry, it was the Pharisees, the scribes and the priestly caste whose
outlook on life was decidedly of the half-empty variety. They looked with
disdain and disapproval at anyone who didn’t measure up to their standards of
thinking and behaving. In particular, they disliked and disapproved of anyone
who hung around with the outcasts of society, like those notorious tax
collectors and other sinners.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the comments we hear from our Lord
this morning, it is an allusion to this outlook of disdain that He is referring
to as He says that He is regarded as being a “friend of tax collectors and
sinners”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In another place in Matthew’s Gospel
account, we read that Jesus says that those Pharisees and scribes lay heavy
burdens on people’s shoulders, burdens they, themselves, aren’t willing to
bear, and burdens they won’t do anything to remove or lighten (see Matthew
23:4.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In response to this half-empty approach
and outlook, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:30).<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our Lord seeks to have the half-full
approach to life, and to people who are living their lives. He seeks to assist,
to better, to improve, people’s lot and their welfare.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What about us? What is our outlook on
life?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is it of the half-empty or the
half-full approach?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do we seek to look for the good and the
worthwhile in others? Or do we look at how they seem to be living life in the
wrong way? Do we tend to regard people in that situation with the idea that
they are way beyond any hope and any help that God could give them, or that we
– with God’s help – could offer?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our Baptismal Covenant seeks to address
our outlook on life and on others, as we promise before God that we will
“respect the dignity of every person”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At its most basic level, what we’re
talking about here is our regard for each and every human being, God’s own
intentional creation, and the worth of that creation. After all, if God loves
each and every one of us (deeply, we should add), then it is incumbent upon us
to regard each and every person with some level of that same regard.
Furthermore, we are called to cultivate that sort of regard with the help of
the Holy Spirit, to allow it to grow so that it becomes the default position
where our outlooks and perspectives are concerned.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We are called, by virtue of our
relationship with God, to share the Good News (Gospel) of God in Christ, that
One who seeks to lighten people’s burdens, to give them rest, and to bring them
into a loving and intense relationship with God.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.</span></b> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-43488904134614369072023-07-02T10:00:00.001-04:002023-07-04T12:15:25.686-04:00Pentecost 5, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Proper
8 :: Jeremiah 22:1 – 14 / Psalm 13 / Romans 6:12 - 23 / Matthew 10:40 – 42</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 2,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“IN THE UNIFORMED SERVICE OF THE LORD”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Matthew 10:40 – 42)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At one time or another in our lives, we
will serve as representatives of someone – or something – else.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For example, members of the armed
forces, or of law enforcement (just to cite two examples), wear distinctive
clothing to denote the fact that they are representatives of the government.
Their uniforms also describe their function to others.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even if some in our society don’t wear
what we would call a “uniform”, oftentimes their clothing or their appearance
gives clues as to their identities, or perhaps also what they might deem to be
important. Think of teenagers and their appearance, as an example. It seems as
though teenagers’ appearance is a relatively unchanging reality of contemporary
society, whether we compare teenagers’ appearance in years gone by, or today.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We could also say much the same thing
about other members of society.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In today’s very brief Gospel text (only
three verses!), Jesus describes a relationship between His followers – His
disciples – Himself and the God who sent Him. At its most basic level, what
Jesus is describing is a relationship based on representation. Put another way,
what we hear this morning is essentially this: “As you go out into the world,
and people receive (or don’t receive) you, what reception they give you is
bound up in your relationship with me, and – in turn – with my relationship
with the Father.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">St. Paul will follow on this theme, I
think, as he says “Put on Christ” (Romans 13:14), or, as he is writing to the
early church in Corinth, “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal
through us” (II Corinthians 5:20).<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How might Christians adopt some sort of
a “uniform” to show the One that they represent, and to show their function, to
others?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One answer can be found in the
distinctive dress of the Amish and the Mennonites in our area. The Amish are
more distinctive in their dress, but Mennonite women usually wear a prayer cap.
Other groups (I think of Pentecostal Christians, as one example), where women
are expected to wear ankle-length skirts and dresses, and to wear their hair in
a distinctive fashion.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For other Christians, there is no
distinction expectation concerning dress.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But, if we don’t appear to represent
Christ in some distinctive manner like the Amish or the Mennonites do, then how
might we act as ambassadors (to use Paul’s description) for Christ?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps one way might be in our speech.
In today’s social climate, it’s probably not a good way to proclaim Christ by
waying of stating something to someone on the order of, “If you died tonight,
would you be sure that you were going to heaven?” Granted, some Christians will
use such an avenue of introduction and approach as they share the Good News
with others. Alas, some Christians use an even blunter approach, which is
equally as undesirable or unproductive (in my view).<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we take Paul’s admonition that we
are to be ambassadors, then perhaps a more-gentle approach – which is a
hallmark of successful diplomacy – is the better approach. For example, when
encountering a person in some sort of distress or trouble, we might say, “Can I
pray for you? If you want to share something about what you’re going through,
it’ll help my prayers on your behalf, for I feel sure that prayer changes
things”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And, of course, the other avenue that
we might faithfully represent Christ is in our behavior and our attitudes
toward others. We might, as one place to start, work to lessen the animosity of
one group toward another, or to work to regard all persons as children of God
and God’s specific, deeply-loved creation.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we move through our days and our
nights, we are – whether we know it or not, or whether we especially like it or
not – we are ambassadors for Christ, Christ making His appeal through us. For
we are marked as Christ’s own in Holy Baptism, a condition that makes an
indelible impression on the soul.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.</span></b> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-15505869302886698012023-06-25T10:00:00.001-04:002023-06-25T10:00:00.142-04:00Pentecost 4, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Proper
7 :: Jeremiah 20: 7 – 13 / Psalm 86: 1 – 10, 16 – 17 / Romans 6: 1b – 11 / Matthew
10: 24 – 39</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 25,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“THE FAITH: A RESOURCE AND A TOOL”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Matthew 10: 24 – 39)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We human beings make use of a wide
variety of tools, which are resources that allow us to do things that we wouldn’t
be able to do, otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Knowing what a tool’s abilities are is
important, in order to know how to use that tool effectively. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some tools can be used without much
instruction, in order to use them safely. But nearly all the tools, the resources,
we use carry with them some sort of a warning, some sort of a set of
instructions about their capabilities, their limitations, and – in particular –
the danger that the tool or resource can pose if used improperly.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One tool or resource we use quite a bit
is books, whether they are used in “hard copy” (paper), or whether or not they
are used in electronic form. A book can inform, it can educate, it can shape a
person’s ideas, thoughts or grasp of reality. But books can also be used as a
tool to spread ideas that are destructive to others.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another tool we use quite a lot is
bolts and fasteners of various kinds. These things allow us to connect things
to one another in ways that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. But a bolt
that not sufficiently tightened, or – just as bad – is overtightened, poses a
risk if the things it is supposed to hold together come apart. Think, for
example, of the various items in a car’s suspension system. If those things
aren’t held together tightly, the result could be catastrophic.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No wonder that so many of the things we
used now carry warning labels, so that the users will be aware of the dangers
of misuse.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These examples bring us to the topic of
today’s Gospel text.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In it, Jesus instructs His disciples,
as they are being trained to go out into the world carrying the Good News
(Gospel) with them. Implicit in the Lord’s instruction that we hear this
morning is that making use of the tools that God has provided in the sending of
Jesus Christ to take up residence among us will pose a danger to the ones who
make use of them.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Lord says that making use of the
tool of the Gospel will cause division among people, as those who hear the Good
News either accept or reject it.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s possible that the members of the church
of which Matthew was a part (modern-day biblical scholars think that Matthew’s
church may have been located somewhere in what is now Syria) had begun to face
the persecution that the Lord portrays, as He says that those who bear the Good
News will be betrayed by others they had known and loved, and would be dragged
before judges because of their faith.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In our country today, we don’t face
those sorts of challenges and dangers (we are blessed to live in America!). And
yet, outright opposition to the Christian faith is more pronounced than it
would have been not too many years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even if we don’t face the sorts of
dangers that being dragged into court entail, then we should be aware that
giving testimony to what God has done in our own lives can be misused, to the
detriment of others. Using the Bible as a brickbat to scold others is one
common way of misusing God’s truth. Even here, there’s a warning to Jesus’
disciples, not to use methods that the Lord Himself didn’t use to share the
Good News of God in Christ. To be clear, Our Lord reserved His harshest
criticisms for those who thought they’d figured out all there was to know about
God and God’s ways. I am thinking here of the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the
ruling elite in the time of our Lord’s visitation and earthly ministry. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We, too, should be aware that, in order
to properly use the resources that our Lord Jesus Christ has given us means
that we will hold that gift in love, and share it with love, to all with whom
we come in contact. In that way, we use the gift of Christ, who is our most
valuable resource, in the ways in which God sent Him into the world, bearing
witness to God’s love, and sharing that gift in love.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-257092859880468162023-06-18T10:00:00.001-04:002023-06-18T10:00:00.138-04:00Pentecost 3, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Proper
6 :: Exodus 19: 2 – 8a / Psalm 100 / Romans 5: 1 – 8 / Matthew 9:35 – 10:23</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, June 18,
2023, by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“A PRIMER ON MINISTRY”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>(Homily text: Matthew 9:35 – 10:23)</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You and I, each one of us who have been
called by God into a relationship, have a ministry.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Your ministry (as lay persons) and my
ministry (as an ordained person) aren’t all that different, really, even though
there are some differences in these two ministries, lay and ordained.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What we have in common is that we are
all called to share the Good News (the Gospel) of what God has done in the
sending of Jesus Christ into the world. We are to do that by sharing, as our
Baptismal Covenant states it so well, “by word and deed the Good News of God in
Christ”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What is different is that, I, as an
ordained person, am specifically tasked with the business of equipping those in
my care with the tools they will need in order to share that Good News. That
said, I, too, am tasked with the business of sharing the Good News by what I do
and by what I say. When a person is ordained, their previous calling to do the
business of being a baptized person doesn’t go away. New tasks and new
responsibilities are added to what was in place before ordination.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So today, we are given a primer, a
textbook teaching, on the business of ministry. Our Lord calls and sends out
that original bunch of disciples, whom Matthew will call in his text, Apostles.
These original twelve were first called to be disciples, and then they were
sent out (the basic meaning of the word “Apostle” – a person who is “sent out”)
into the wider community to bear witness to what they had seen Jesus do, and by
what they had witnessed in His teaching and in His love for people, as Apostles.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So that we might have an idea of what
sort of business we will be engaged in as we carry out our ministries, our
callings, our charge to bear witness in our time, in our place, and in our
lives, let’s examine some of the things the Lord says are important to remember
as we make our way into the wider world. After all, we are called first to be
disciples, and then we are sent out into the world as apostles.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We might begin with this: The work to
be done is enormous in its scope, and the need for workers to meet the demands
of the work will be great. Matthew tells us that the Lord “had compassion” for
the people, because they were like “sheep without a shepherd”. Therefore, the
Lord says, “Pray that the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his
harvest”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The size of the work to be done in the
world is, in every age, enormous in its scope and in the challenges of
ministry. Why is this so? One reason is that, as a new generation comes along,
it must be informed and trained in the ways and in the knowledge of God.
Another reason is due to the activity of the Evil One, whose purpose is to
separate people from God and from one another. These two realities are
unchanging, down through time.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then, the Lord goes on to inform these
original disciples about the realities that they will face as they go out into
the world. His instructions sound (to my ears anyway) a bit like a new soldier
who’s going through initial training, being formed and conditioned to meet the
challenges of military service, trained to meet the worst conditions such
service might entail. What we’re talking about here is spiritual warfare. We
might characterize what the Lord said by recalling this bit of wisdom: “Expect
the worst, you won’t be disappointed”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those who are called and sent are to travel
lightly, the Lord says. We could summarize His instructions by saying, “Focus
on your ministry, take what you need for that ministry, but leave behind
anything that isn’t essential”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, the next set of instructions
consists of the hardships that will be present.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First, there will be opposition, right
alongside successes, as the message, the Good News, is shared. Some will reject
the message and the messenger. (How much I would like to believe that that
isn’t going to be the case!) Alas, the truth is that not all persons will
accept the Good News, and not everyone is going to benefit from it by entering
into a relationship with God. Holy Scripture is very clear in its declaration
of the truth that some will reject God’s offers and God’s love. Put another
way, the truth is that some ministries will fail, even as others succeed.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then there is the very real possibility
of outright hatred and violence, directed to the messenger as the message is
shared. I believe we’re seeing evidence of such change in our own society
nowadays. In time, it’s possible that Christians will be outrightly persecuted
for their beliefs here in our own society.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The spiritual battle we alluded to a
moment ago confronts us with a choice: We can either run from the field and
away from the conflict, or we can face it head on, we can endure whatever comes
our way, and we will find favor with God if we do.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Come then, Holy Spirit, and kindle
within us the fire of our love, strengthen our feeble hands and our weak knees
to stand firmly, and to travel with your purposes in view, as we are sent out
into the world in witness to your love.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> </span> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-89125737290901722252023-06-11T10:00:00.001-04:002023-06-17T08:30:08.883-04:00Pentecost 2, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Proper
5 :: Genesis 12:1 – 9 / Psalm 33:1 – 12 / Romans 4:13 – 25 / Matthew 9:9 – 13,
18 - 26</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 11,
2023, by Fr. Gene Tucker.</span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“THE LORD’S CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Matthew 9:9 – 13, 18 – 26)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning, we are blessed to hear
the account of Matthew’s call to become a disciple of the Lord. We get the
impression that Matthew’s response, as he sat at the tax booth receiving
people’s taxes, was immediate. That is to say, it seems as though Matthew got
up, left everything on the table as he was working, and perhaps simply walked
away to follow the Lord. We don’t know for sure, but perhaps he told an
assistant, “Take care of this stuff, I quit”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew’s call to follow the Lord meant
a radical change in the shape and the future trajectory of his life.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For one thing, Matthew, who is also known
as a Levite, was one of a class of priests. That he is known to be a Levite
identifies him as one of the group of “local” priests. Matthew was also working
for and collaborating with the occupying Romans. Jews who did that were
especially despised for their work, for they were assisting the Romans in their
occupation of the Holy Land. That Matthew was, most likely, also a priest,
probably made their dislike for him even greater. I think it’s safe to assume
that that was the case. No wonder that tax collectors were often lumped in
together with other notorious sinners.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When Matthew got up from the tax booth
that day, he became a member of a new community, which was composed of others
who had said “yes” to the Lord’s call to discipleship. What was the character of this new group of
followers of Jesus, those who would become Matthew’s new community? That aspect
of Matthew’s call and conversion is also fascinating, for it included another
disciple who – given normal expectations and behaviors of the day, and given an
absence of Jesus’ leadership – would have absolutely hated Matthew. The
disciple we’re talking about is Simon the Zealot. The Zealots were a group of
people among the Jews who advocated the violent overthrow of the Roman
occupation. Maintaining such a stance meant that they would, most likely, have harbored
a deep hatred of tax collectors. But the reality of having become a disciple of
the Lord meant that such normal ideas and attitudes melted away as a new
priority took their place.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is, by way of a summary, the
nature of Matthew’s call to follow the Lord, and the character of his
conversion to being a disciple – and then an Apostle – of Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since we’re talking about the Lord’s
call to become a follower, and about the changes in life that come when a
person decides to follow the Lord, let’s ask ourselves two questions this
morning:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span> </span>1. When did the Lord call each of us to
become a follower, a disciple?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span> </span>2. What changes came when the answer
was “yes” to that call?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These two questions, I maintain, demand
an answer from each of us.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After all, perhaps the Lord’s call came
at Baptism. For in Baptism, we die to self and rise to a new life in Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Or, perhaps that call came at a
specific time, place and circumstance: That occasion when we realized that we
were helpless to change our own lives and to become a Christ-like person.
Perhaps we can remember the words we prayed as we asked the Lord to enter our
hearts and to begin a process of conversion, beginning with the inner self and
working outward to the outer self.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whether we grew into the reality of
what Baptism means over time, bit by bit, little by little, or whether we had a
specific conversion experience, each path of our response to the Lord’s call to
discipleship always involves a realization that we must bottom out, we must
admit we are helpless to attain God’s standards of holiness by our own means
and abilities. After all, the meaning of
Baptism is that we descend into the waters which would otherwise overcome and
kill us, only to be raised out of the water by God’s grace. We are given a new
lease on life, and that new life – as it was for Matthew – meant a new, more meaningful
life.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, let’s address the second question
we asked a moment ago, that one about the character of our lives after we
accept the Lord’s call.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew’s call and conversion meant a
new path, a new way of being, a new purpose in his life. His behavior following
the Lord’s call confirmed the genuine nature of his response to that call.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In our own lives, also, we are called
to mirror a different set of values. We are called not to think like the
secular world around us, but to be shaped by an entirely different set of
values. In every age, the values of God’s kingdom are different than the values
of the society in which the kingdom is planted.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, we can address this question to
ourselves: “How is it that I am thinking and acting like a disciple of Jesus?
How is my thinking and acting different from the values of the society in which
I find myself?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May the Holy Spirit enable us to see
ourselves clearly, as God sees us. May we respond to God’s call to become a
follower of Jesus, and may we, by our thinking and our acting, reflect the
values of God’s kingdom.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.</span></b> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-19163218319736265872023-06-04T10:00:00.004-04:002023-06-04T10:00:00.137-04:00Trinity Sunday, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Genesis
1: 1 – 2:4</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
8<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">II
Corinthians 13: 11 – 13 <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew
28: 16 – 20 <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 4,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“INVITED IN”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Matthew 28: 16 – 20)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagine being invited in to have a
glimpse of the inner life of God.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a very real sense, that’s what we
are offered as our Lord Jesus Christ comes among us, telling us of His
relationship with the Father, and promising to send the Holy Spirit to guide us
into all truth, to comfort us, to enlighten us, and to empower our witness to
the great things that God has done.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For, in truth, our Lord is the doorway,
the window into that inner life of God, the relationship between the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit, that God in three Persons, yet that God who is one
in Being.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps it’s possible that our Lord
provides with about as much information as we are able to understand this side
of heaven about the reality and the mystery of God’s nature. Maybe that’s why
the Lord uses the language of Father and Son to describe the relationship
between two of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After all, what we’re dealing with as
we consider the nature of God, is a mystery. God has chosen to reveal some of
His nature to us, in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the Church was planted in this world
to provide a witness to the great goodness that the coming of Jesus Christ
meant, it had to wrestle with what had happened in the “Christ Event”, the term
theologians use to describe all that is connected to the coming of Jesus among
us. That wrestling took over four centuries to come to a conclusion, as the
Church affirmed that Jesus Christ is truly one with God the Father, and yet –
at the same time – is also fully and completely human, as well, with neither
the divine nature nor the human nature being confused by the other, nor divided
from each other. (For a statement of the Church’s understanding, see the Book
of Common Prayer, 1979 edition, page 864, for the Council of Chalcedon’s
conclusion about the dual natures of Jesus Christ, adopted in the year 451 AD.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We said a moment ago that it’s possible
that the Lord provides us with about as much information as we are able to
understand about God this side of heaven. Related to this truth is the tendency
(a naturally-occurring one, I think) to see each Person of the Trinity
separately. For example, when we think about God the Son, Jesus the Christ, we
might tend to ignore the reality that God the Father is also present, as is the
Holy Spirit. The tendency to focus on one of the three Persons is called
“modalism”, referring to the idea that we are considering the “mode” in which
we experience God.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Considering that the possibility is
quite strong for us humans to watch our minds spin in bewilderment as we think
about God’s nature as being one God in three Persons, perhaps we can ask for God’s
help as we struggle to understand something about the mystery of God’s identity
and nature. We are, after all, made in God’s image and likeness, but though we
possess some tools for grasping the reality of God’s existence, we are limited
in our ability to see God for all that He is. Again, this side of heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Come then, Holy Spirit, and enable us
to see more clearly, to know God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to remember
that when we encounter one Person of the Holy Trinity, we are also encountering
the other two Persons of that same Trinity.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We praise and glorify your holy Name
for the glimpse into your true nature that our Lord Jesus Christ has made known
to us.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> </span> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-47580472993557319902023-05-28T10:00:00.001-04:002023-05-28T10:00:00.143-04:00The Day of Pentecost, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts
2: 1 - 21<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
104: 25 – 35, 37<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
Corinthians 12: 3b – 13<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">John
20: 19 – 23</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, given on May 28,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“RELATIONSHIP AND SERVICE”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Acts 2: 1 – 21)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we consider the events that took
place on this day, the day of Pentecost, let’s focus our consideration on two
aspects of what happened on that day, in the ways in which those involved were
made aware of the Holy Spirit’s identity and power, and also in the ways in
which the Spirit’s presence and power were given for the purpose of sharing the
Good News (Gospel) of Christ with the world.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let’s begin with a review of what
happened that day, as the Spirit descended on those gathered (we’re not sure of
the number, for Luke – the writer of the Book of Acts – isn’t helpful in his
explanation: Could it have been the original group of twelve Apostles<a href="file:///C:/Users/Deb/Documents/Sermons/Year%20A/Year%20A%20Pentecost.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>, or
was it a larger number, 120, that was mentioned in the text a bit earlier?)<a href="file:///C:/Users/Deb/Documents/Sermons/Year%20A/Year%20A%20Pentecost.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit’s
arrival was marked by something “like” a mighty wind, and with something that
resembled tongues of fire which appeared above the heads of each one gathered
that day. (Notice that Luke attempts to describe what happened, making
analogies with the words “like” and “as of”. To a certain extent, because God
is involved in what happened, some aspects of the event are difficult to
capture entirely.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What we can discern about the Pentecost
event is that our human understanding of the Holy Spirit’s identity and power
changed.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Prior to Pentecost, in Old Testament
times, there are numerous references in those times to the Spirit of God
descending on someone. Examples would include the following: Genesis 41:38;
Exodus 31:3 and 35:31; Numbers 24:2; I Samuel 10:10, 11:6, 19:20 and 19:23; II
Chronicles 15:1. In each of these cases, the Spirit’s descent enabled the
person to do something they couldn’t have done absent the Spirit’s presence and
power.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In truth, since God’s nature is
unchanging, the events of Pentecost didn’t mark a change in God’s essential
nature. Nor did the Pentecost event change the relationship between the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit, as the Church would come to understand that
relationship in future years. But what did change was that God chose to reveal
something new about His essential nature to humankind. It is our understanding
that changed, not God’s nature.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But now, on the day of Pentecost, as
the Holy Spirit descends, each one present is given power to do something
extraordinary: The ability to speak a foreign language, one they had not known
before. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those who had come to Jerusalem on
pilgrimage for the feast of Pentecost from the various areas that Luke includes
were able to understand what the disciples and the Apostles were saying. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Notice the far-ranging audience that
was present that day, those who heard – in their own language – about God’s
great works. We can glean from this part of the account of that day’s events
that the scope of the spread of the Good News is to be world-wide.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each one whose lives were changed by
the rush of that mighty wind, and by the descent of the fire (signifying God’s
presence and purifying power) went out, sharing their experience with others.
The gift of the spirit was never intended to be hoarded as private treasure. On
the contrary, the Spirit’s presence in their lives and in ours was intended to
empower them to be witnesses to God’s mighty acts, so that the lives of others
would also be changed for good.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This day is regarded as the “birthday
of the Church”, the day on which the Church was – in a very real sense –
founded to carry out the work God intends for the world. Therefore, the gifts
given to the Church are not her sole possession, but are to be used to reach
out in service, in love, and in testimony to God’s power and God’s intent for
the world.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May the Holy Spirit descend on us in
might and in power, as it did to those gathered on that day, that we might use
the language of those we encounter for the sharing of God’s great and good
news.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Deb/Documents/Sermons/Year%20A/Year%20A%20Pentecost.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> By the day of Pentecost, Matthias had been
chosen to replace Judas Iscariot. See Acts 1: 21 – 26.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Deb/Documents/Sermons/Year%20A/Year%20A%20Pentecost.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span></span></a> Acts 1: 15 </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-54292222857897683312023-05-21T10:00:00.001-04:002023-05-24T20:09:21.916-04:00Easter 7, Year A (2023) The Sunday after the Ascension<p class="MsoFootnoteText"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts
1: 6 - 14<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
68: 1 – 10, 33 – 36<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
Peter 4: 12 – 14, 5: 6 - 11<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">John
17: 1 - 11</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, May 21,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“WHAT SORT OF ONE-NESS?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John 17: 1 – 11)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Holy Father, keep them in your name,
which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”[1] These words are part of what has come to be known as “Jesus’ High Priestly
Prayer”, a subtitle given to it by biblical scholars.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These words, and the remainder of
chapter seventeen of John’s Gospel account, are the culmination of the events
that took place during the Last Supper. John devotes five chapters to these
events, chapters thirteen through seventeen of his account.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus prays for His disciples, those
who will continue in a world which was hostile to Him and to His message and
work, and which will continue to be hostile to His followers as they make their
way out into the world, carrying the Good News (Gospel) of what God had done in
sending Jesus Christ into the world.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A prominent theme in this High Priestly
Prayer is the appeal for unity among the Lord’s followers. We hear it in verse
eleven, with which we began this homily this morning, and we will read it again
three more times near the end of the prayer, in verses 21 through 23.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What about being one? What about unity
within the body of Christ?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After all, a common witness to God’s
power, made known in the person, work, ministry, suffering, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, is a requirement, if the power of God is to be
effective in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we do not have commonality of
purpose and witness, then the Christian voice merely becomes one of many
competing and conflicting voices calling out to the world’s peoples for
attention and for influence. Alas, there are many such voices, many, many more
than there were even a few years ago. The result can be cacophonous.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Where do we stand, in this, the year of
Our Lord 2023, in the matter of Christian unity and common witness.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think, if we are honest with
ourselves, we’d have to say that there have been some gains, but also some
losses.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Looking back over recent decades, we
can see more interaction between various Christian bodies. For example, in our
own local Forum of Churches, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, United
Church of Christ, Church of the Brethren and others are represented, in
addition to our own Episcopal/Anglican presence. As good as that ecumenicity is,
there are missing voices, those of the more traditional evangelical ones.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It wouldn’t have been too many years
ago that Roman Catholics wouldn’t have had anything to do with a group like the
Forum of Churches. Indeed, it’s only been since Vatican II in the 1960s that
attitudes among Roman Catholics toward other Christian bodies has begun to
change. But, in all candor, we also have to say that the reverse is true, that
Protestants and Anglicans (like us) wouldn’t have had much, if anything, to do
with Roman Catholics, either.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So there’s been good movement toward
unity of purpose in recent times. A good development, to be sure.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, even as various Christian
churches have come together, even – in some cases – leading to actual unity,
there’ve also been divisions. Consider, for example, the current struggles of
the United Methodist Church, which is now dealing with some of the issues that
have vexed other Christians, leading to departures from the denomination. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our own Episcopal Church hasn’t been
immune from these – and other – struggles. Over the past 50 or so years, we’ve
dealt with issues of adopting a new Prayer Book, women’s ordination and
sexuality issues. Our membership has declined from about 3.5 million in the
1960s to about 1.5 million today. It’s small comfort that other Christians are
dealing with some of these same issues. The result for them, as it has been for
us, has been a series of splits in denominations, departures for new Christian
bodies, or – much more sadly – departures of those who now have no Christian
affiliation at all.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Unity within denominations, then, has
been a series of successes and failures. To be honest about the failures, it’s
probably true that some of the issues that are before the Church today do not
have a common ground of understanding, and little-or-no room for compromise.
That said, however, St. Paul admonishes us to be at peace with everyone, as
much as it depends on us to create conditions for peace.[2]<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Unity between – and within – Christian
bodies is critical to our witness to the wider world.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But so is unity within the local
congregation.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If a local church is torn by competing
factions for dominance and influence, or when members of the local community
fail to put the overall congregation’s welfare over their own preferences, then
the local congregation’s mission will be impeded. It’s even possible that a
newcomer will be able to sense the tension within the congregation. Any steps
the congregation might undertake to extend a warmer welcome to newcomers will be
undercut, as a result. (One thinks of the divisions and the competition for
power and influence that was present in the early church in Corinth as an
example.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How might we move toward greater
one-ness in Christ, both within our own local congregations, and between other
Christians? I think the answer is that we must submit our own wills, our own
preferences, our own perspectives, to the power of the Holy Spirit. For it is
the Spirit’s domain to be the changer of hearts and minds.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May we, then, surrender our wills to
the Father’s will, to the Son’s example, and to the power of the Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]</span> John 17:11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[2]</span> Romans 12:18<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-1686228544352572882023-05-14T10:00:00.002-04:002023-05-14T10:00:00.147-04:00Easter 6, Year A (2023) - Rogation Sunday<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts
17: 22 – 31<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
66: 7 - 18<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
Peter 3: 15 - 22<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">John
14: 15 – 21</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, May 14,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“LOVE RECEIVED, LOVE OFFERED”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: John 14: 15 – 21)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are some things in life that defy
definition. But, even though we might not be able to completely define what
they are, we can recognize them when we encounter them. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For example, we can identify kindness
when we encounter it. The same is true of cruelty or inhumane acts.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The same is also true of love. The
dictionary offers us a lengthy definition of love, and the Greek language
(unlike English) has four words[1] for
the different types of love that human beings can experience and can know.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, in today’s appointed Gospel
reading, we hear Jesus’ words, “If you love[2] me,
you will keep my commandments.” If we check a good concordance to see how many
times the word “love” appears in John’s Gospel account and in his letters, we
see that we encounter it eight times in the Gospel, and eighteen times in First
and Second John.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">John describes our Lord Jesus Christ’s
relationship with God the Father and with us in terms of being a conduit, a way
for the Father’s love to be given to us. We are in the receiving end of that
immense, wonderful love, that sort of generous (to an extreme) sort of love
that seeks our welfare, not God’s necessarily. That sort of love is <i>agape</i>
love, the same Greek word used in the opening verse of today’s appointed text.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, for example, in last week’s Gospel
text, we hear Jesus say to Philip, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father
and the Father is in me? The Words that I say to you I do not speak on my own,
but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”[3] The
implication here is that Jesus came to reveal the Father, the Father’s will,
and the Father’s love, to us.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are we to do with God’s love?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One possibility is that we could hoard
it, treat it as if it was our possession to enjoy, to the exclusion of others.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another possibility is to become proud
of the fact that we’ve received God’s love and God’s approval, Oftentimes, when
Christians fall into this trap, they begin to act in very unloving ways.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Still another possibility – and really,
the best one and the one that the Father would want us to follow – is to
receive God’s love, to be thankful for it, and then to turn around and share
that love with others. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Notice the dual focus in that last
statement. It requires us to keep our focus on the Father and on the Father’s
will and the Father’s love, but also on the love that we pass along to others.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s a difficult task to maintain a
healthy focus on the Father and also – at the same time – on those whom the
Father also loves.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps because it is a challenge to
look to the Father and to others, Christians might tend to look one way and not
the other.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For example, oftentimes those who
uphold the received truths of the faith, and who value the Church’s traditions
and the authority of Holy Scripture might tend to cast their eyes (mostly or
even exclusively) toward the Father. One word to describe such an outlook is to
say that such persons are “traditionalists”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Other Christians who harbor a deep
concern for the care and the welfare of individuals, might look in the
direction of individual persons, again mostly or exclusively. We might
characterize such an outlook as being “progressive”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(I hope I’m not engaging in
generalities which fail to adequately consider the various positions that
Christians might hold.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, what is – given the possibility
that Christians might look one way or the other – our Lord’s example? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think it’s clear that our Lord looked
to the Father, but also to the welfare and care of individuals. He looked both
ways. So, using the categories described above, our Lord is both a
“traditionalist” and a “progressive”, all at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Such a balance and such a dual focus is
our calling, I believe. With the assistance of the Holy Spirit (that Comforter
that Jesus talks about sending to His followers) and the example our Lord set
for us, we are to receive the Father’s love, to follow the Father’s will and
commandments, and to harbor a deep and abiding love for the Father and for
those whom the Father loves.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It won’t be an easy task to put into
action and into our expectations such a perfect model as our Lord has given us.
But with the Father’s help, the example set for us by the Son, and the
assistance and guidance of the Comforter (the Holy Spirit), we can succeed.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]</span> The Bible uses three of those four words for love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[2]</span> The Greek word for “love” in this verse is <i>agape</i>, that
self-giving sort of love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div><p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[3]</span> John 14:10</span> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-7205784198679771352023-05-07T10:00:00.001-04:002023-05-07T10:00:00.149-04:00Easter 5, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts
7: 55 – 60<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
31: 1 – 5, 15 – 16<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
Peter 2: 2 - 10<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">John
14: 1 – 14</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, May 7,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“BRIDGE BUILDING”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: John 14: 1 - 14)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bridges allow us to go from where we
are to a place we need or want to go. Think, for example, about highway
bridges: They allow us to cross a waterway, another road, or a valley or other
obstacle.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bridges are a useful tool in teaching.
Students can grasp a new idea or a new way of thinking, or a new reality, if
they begin that journey by starting from what they already know. Jesus uses
this method of teaching quite frequently in His parables. Many of the Lord’s
parables are centered around some sort of an agricultural theme. After all, the
society He lived and moved in was an agricultural one. Think, for example, of
the Parable of the Four Soils.[1]<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our appointed Gospel text for this
morning, taken from John’s account, chapter fourteen, is an example of the
Lord’s bridge-building.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We begin with Jesus’ instruction to His
disciples, as He says, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that
where I am, you may be also, and you know the way to where I am going.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In response, Thomas says to Him, “Lord,
we do not know the way where you are going. How can we know the way?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus’ response is, perhaps, one of the
more well-known answers in all of the New Testament. He says, “I am the way,
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus’ comment, that He is the way, the
truth and the life, is an exclusive claim. To many, it is a difficult concept
to accept. But, I don’t think, it needs to be.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Allow an explanation.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus is telling His followers that He
is going on ahead of them, to do things that will be of enormous benefit to
them in the fulness of time. In essence, what He is saying is that He is
building a bridge, so that those He loves can follow Him into a new, better and
more wonderful place, a place with God the Father.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No wonder that Thomas can’t grasp the
idea. Thomas (and the other disciples) aren’t there yet, and, furthermore, they
haven’t really had a glimpse of what the destination looks like.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In His compassion for all who love and
follow Him, the Lord provides the assurance that He has built the bridge, and
that the bridge He has constructed will enable all who follow Him to cross over
into that more glorious place with the Father.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The bridge is the Lord’s resurrection
on Easter Sunday morning.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By rising from the dead, the Lord
assures us that He holds the key and the power over all that would harm us,
including the power of death. The Lord crossed over the bridge the Father constructed
for Him, creating a new reality in our relationship with our last and final
enemy: Death.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our own journey across that bridge
begins in faith. In time, Thomas came to faith as the Lord showed him His hands
and His side, inviting Thomas to put his fingers into the print of the nails
and to place his hands in the Lord’s sides.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Lord then says to Thomas, as Thomas
exclaims, “My Lord and my God!”, “Do you believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen, and who have come to believe.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May the Lord grant us the gift of
faith, that with the eyes of faith, we may come to believe and to know that the
bridge the Lord has given us in the way to the Father.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b></p>
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<!--[endif]-->
</div><p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]</span> See Mathew 13: 1 – 9.</span> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-90521725831607278482023-04-30T10:00:00.002-04:002023-05-04T18:56:30.082-04:00Easter 4, Year A (2023) “Good Shepherd Sunday”<p class="MsoFootnoteText"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts
2: 42 – 4 / Psalm 23 / I Peter 2: 10 – 25 / John 10: 1 – 10</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, April
30, 2023, by Fr. Gene Tucker.</span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“A PURPOSE TO ALL THINGS: SHEPHERD AND FLOCK”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John 10: 1 - 10)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A fascinating image we have of the Lord
is that He is our shepherd. Think of the appointed Psalm for this Sunday, which
begins with the statement “The Lord is my shepherd”. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The image that often comes to mind of
the Lord as shepherd is a tranquil scene in which a shepherd has a young lamb
wrapped around his shoulders (a well-known painting depicts the Lord that way).
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we dig a little deeper into the
business of shepherding, it’s possible we’ll see quite a depth of meaning for
the relationship that we, the Lord’s sheep, have with Him, our shepherd.
Hopefully, we’ll see that the shepherd and the sheep of his flock each have
interwoven purposes and roles to fill.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let’s look a little deeper then…<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We might begin with the place that
shepherds had in the ancient world. We see, in those times and in that culture,
that being a shepherd wasn’t the most notable or sought-after calling. Think,
perhaps, of King David as the prophet Samuel comes to David’s father, Jesse,
informing him that God had sent him to Jesse’s household because God had chosen
one of his sons to be king in the place of Saul[1]. As
Jesse parades one son after another in front of Samuel, Samuel says, of each
one, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Finally, after seven of the sons
have come and gone, Samuel asks Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” Jesse says, “There
remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” When David came
in, Samuel was instructed by the Lord, who said, “Arise, anoint him, for this
is he.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Note that David was the youngest of the
sons, not the oldest or the older ones, the ones we might expect would be the
ones chosen. And, note that David is a shepherd.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This aspect of shepherding might prompt
us to consider that the Lord is not only the one who cares for us, but the Lord
is also the one who is called to serve us, His sheep. Jesus’ remark comes to
mind here: “…I am among you as one who serves”.[2]<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A shepherd’s work involves leading the
flock of sheep. One of the tasks involved in leading sheep is to lead them to places
where there is good grazing. Transferred into the relationship between God and
God’s people, we can see that the Lord, as shepherd, leads us into all truth,
and leads us into those things that will benefit our wellbeing.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another task that is a part of
shepherding is the protection of the flock. Sheep are well-known for being able
to get into trouble, trouble that they, themselves, cannot free themselves of. To
aid in rescuing sheep that are in danger, the shepherd carries a staff, known
as a crook, with a hooked end on one end (to retrieve sheep from danger) and a
pointed end on the other, to prod sheep to go in a direction that is good for
their welfare.[3] In our walk with the Lord, we are rescued from those things that would harm us
us spiritually, even as we are prodded by the Lord to make changes in our
relationship with Him.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As often as we focus on the shepherd
and the work that the shepherd does, we would also do well to consider the
flock itself.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The shepherd’s purpose is directly
related to the existence and the welfare of the flock. Simply put, if there is
no flock, there is no need for a shepherd.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The sheep themselves also have a
purpose, and that is to provide wool for clothing, and – in Old Testament times
– lambs for Temple sacrifices. We, as the Lord’s flock, have a purpose to
fulfill in His plans for the world and those who live in it. That purpose has
to do with casting the Lord’s light into the darkness of the world by what we
do and by what we say. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We are the Lord’s flock, His people.
The Lord, as shepherd, preserves us, nurtures us, and leads us, that we might
be known as the Lord’s possession forever.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thanks be to God.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]</span> See I Samuel 16:1 – 13.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[2]</span> Luke 22:27b<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[3]</span> The Bishop’s crozier is a stylized version of the shepherd’s crook.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-17873497828169599002023-04-23T10:00:00.001-04:002023-04-23T10:00:00.174-04:00Easter 3, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts
2:14a, 36 - 41<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
116:1 – 3, 10 – 17<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
Peter 1:17 – 23<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Luke
24:13 – 35</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, April
23, 2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“KNOWING THE LORD, AND MAKING HIM KNOWN”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Luke 24:13 – 35)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">St. Luke provides us with a wonderful
account of one of the Lord’s resurrection appearances, this one to two of the
disciples as they made their way from Jerusalem toward a town called Emmaus on
Easter Sunday afternoon and evening. This account is Luke’s alone, a wonderful
gift to us and to Christians down through time.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One aspect of the interchange in this
account between Jesus and the two disciples that’s always fascinated me is that
as the Lord joins the two on the road, neither one of them recognized Him.
Then, Luke tells us, “Their eyes were opened” and they knew who He was. This
happened over a meal at the inn they were going to as the Lord broke bread with
them.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Isn’t it interesting that their being
able to know Jesus’ identity was given as a gift, something they themselves
couldn’t have managed to come to know. I think that’s a good way to understand
the substance of what happened.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Surely St. Augustine of Hippo[1],
perhaps the western Church’s foremost theologian, would agree with the idea
that being able to know God and His son, Jesus the Christ, is a gift, God’s
gift. Augustine says that our sinful condition is so profound, so deep, that we
are entirely unable to know God, absent God’s gift of grace, which corrects our
faulty vision and which enables us to see God clearly.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since Cleopas and the other, unnamed
disciple, were able to know the Lord as the bread was being broken, the
question might arise in our thinking: “What are the ways we know God?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here are some ways with might know God:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
the Holy Eucharist:</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
We come to the holy table at which the meal of communion with the Lord is
celebrated. Essentially, this action is a ritualized enactment of what happened
at the Last Supper. Our understanding, as Episcopalians/Anglicans is that the
Lord is really present[2] in
the bread and in the wine in ways that we don’t fully understand. But, we
maintain, we don’t need to fully know just how this mystery works. It’s important
simply to know that it does. To receive the bread and the wine, according to
this understanding (which, I believe, is the correct one) is to become one with
the Lord – to commune (defined as “being one with” Him.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
Holy Scripture:</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
The Bible is a record of God’s dealing with humanity over time. I firmly
believe that each incident in this interactive drama is preserved for us in its
sacred pages because – due to God’s unchanging nature and the human condition’s
recurring nature – the basic elements of the interaction between God and
humankind are unchanging. So the things that happened many centuries ago are
bound to happen again. Therefore, the Bible retains its relevance to our lives
today.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
God’s working in other’s lives: </span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One reason the Church exists, and – in
particular – the local parish exists, is to provide a laboratory for us to see
God at work in each other’s lives. For example, when someone is miraculously
healed of a physical condition, something that medical science is unable to
explain, we might come to the conclusion that God was at work in the process.
Likewise, when someone overcomes a serious challenge – addiction of one kind or
another is an example – God can be seen in the process of restoration.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, in connection with this last
point, we might ask ourselves, “How is my life a means by which the Lord is
made known?” After all, it’s been said that our lives and the way in which we
live them, is the only Bible many people will ever read. True enough, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No wonder that St. Paul, writing in
many of his letters to the new Christians in the churches he had founded,
admonishes them time and again, telling them that – because they have come to
Christ and have become Christ’s forever – they can no longer live as they did
beforehand. Their lives must change, reflecting God’s character (love, joy,
peace, patience, perseverance, etc.) and the new and better way of living that
Christ’s true and abiding presence makes known.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So may it be for us today.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]</span> Augustine lived from 354 – 430 AD, and was Bishop of the north African
city, Hippo.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[2]</span> This understanding of the nature of the Eucharist was articulated by the
reformer Martin Luther. He used the term Consubstantiation to explain that the
Lord was really present in the communion elements. His position is midway
between the Roman Catholic understanding, known as Transubstantiation, a belief
that the accidents of the communion (bread and wine) do not change, but the substance
of them (the Lord’s presence) does change, and the Protestant understanding,
which maintains that the Lord’s Supper is a memorial, and nothing more.</span> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-37700290167890262842023-04-16T10:00:00.001-04:002023-04-22T08:06:52.416-04:00Easter 2, Year A (2023)<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acts
2:14a, 22 – 32<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 16<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I Peter 1:3 – 9<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 20:19 – 31</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, April
16, 2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“THE LORD FROM WHOM NO SECRETS ARE HID”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John 20:19 – 31)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagine a scenario in which a person’s
innermost thoughts, desires, and actions become known. An example of that might
be someone who’d committed a crime, whose deeds are now known. Or, perhaps, a
remark made in private which is then disclosed to others. Both of these scenarios
would normally lead the person involved to feel exposed and vulnerable.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That seems to be the case with the
Lord’s offering to Thomas, that Thomas would be allowed to do the very things
that he had demanded in order to come to believe that the Lord’s resurrection
was an actual event.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We need to back up a little into this
account, for it will help shape our understanding.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A week before, on that first Easter
Sunday, the Lord appeared to ten of His disciples. John tells us that Thomas
wasn’t with them on that occasion. But then, Thomas was with them a bit later
on (we don’t know exactly when). At the time he is with the other ten
disciples, he is told that the Lord is alive, and that He had appeared to them.
In response, Thomas says that he won’t believe unless he is able to put his
fingers in the print of the nails in the Lord’s hands, and to put his hand into
the spear wound in the Lord’s side.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then, on the first Sunday after the
first Easter Sunday[1],
Thomas is with the other disciples, and the Lord appears to them. Looking at
Thomas, the Lord gives Thomas permission to put his fingers into the print of
the nails, and to place his hands in His side. In response, Thomas says, “My
Lord and my God!”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Notice that the Lord knows what Thomas
had demanded to be able to do in order to come to faith. All throughout John’s
Gospel account, Jesus knows things that only God can know. (It is a marker - in
John’s account -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of Jesus’ divinity, His
oneness with God the Father.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A logical conclusion we can draw from
the Lord’s foreknowledge of Thomas’ demands is that, if the Lord knew what
Thomas had said, then He also had the ability to know everything else about
Thomas: His thoughts, his actions, his desires, his attitudes, and so forth.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thomas had been “found out”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But notice what the Lord did: He said
to Thomas, “Don’t be faithless[2], but
believing.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Lord could easily have invaded
Thomas’ heart and soul for the purposes of wreaking havoc in Thomas’ innermost
being. But the Lord does just the opposite: The Lord grants Thomas permission
to come to faith, to be able to be completely whole for the first time in
Thomas’ life. (Remember that Thomas is portrayed in John’s Gospel account as a
fairly dour person. See John 11:16 for an insight into Thomas’ character.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a result of Thomas’ transformation,
he is now fit to serve the Lord as an emissary of the Good News of God in
Christ. We know from tradition that Thomas became just such an emissary,
traveling as far as the subcontinent of India, carrying the Gospel story with
him.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If the Lord knew all about Thomas, then
the Lord also knows all about us….our thoughts, our actions, the ways in which
we have fallen short of God’s high standards of behavior, our unwillingness to
surrender ourselves completely to God’s invitation to a new and transformed
life.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For, we need to remember, we’ve all
been “found out”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the face of such a realization, we
might want to hide from God’s gaze. But God comes, not to rummage around in our
hearts and minds in order to create havoc, but to ferret out of us all that is
unseemly and all that that falls short of a complete transformation of heart,
mind and soul.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Absent such a complete self-surrender,
our walk with God hasn’t really begun. For our journey into the waters of Holy
Baptism signifies that we have died – completely died – to our old way of life,
in order to be raised to a new way of life.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thank you, Thomas, for your complete
and total surrender to the Lord’s sovereignty and will. May we do the same.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]</span> This would be the eighth day after the resurrection. The timing of this
event is one reason why we hear today’s Gospel text on the first Sunday after
Easter. By the way, the number eight in the Bible signifies a new beginning.
For Thomas, the events that took place on the eighth day was a new beginning in
his life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[2]</span> Thomas has become known as “Doubting Thomas”
because of this incident. But the Greek word is better translated as “faithless” or “unbelieving”.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-47657652107708008332023-04-09T10:00:00.004-04:002023-04-09T10:00:00.170-04:00Easter Sunday – The Sunday of the Resurrection, Year A (2023)<p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">A</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">cts
10:34 - 43<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 118:1 -2, 14 – 24<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Colossians 3:1 – 4<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew 28:1 – 10</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Sunday April,
9, 2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“SEPARATION: A FAILED ATTEMPT”<br /></span>
</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Matthew
28:1 - 10)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Quite often in our household, the
comment is made that goes something like this: “We are victims of the packaging
industry.” What we mean by that remark is that, oftentimes, getting an item out
of the packaging it comes in is a struggle. Sometimes, it’s necessary to try to
figure out where to begin. At other times, a good tool is necessary to cut
through the various levels and types of wrapping.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For example, try opening the plastic
bag that cereal comes in these days. (Time was when cereal came in a box – like
it does today – but it was contained in a paper bag.) These days, cereal is
contained in a plastic bag inside the box. If one tries to rip open the plastic
bag, the result is likely to be cereal, scattered all over the place. In my
experience, a pair of scissors or a good knife are needed to get the bag open
without a mishap.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Which brings us to the subject of
Easter Sunday, and our celebration of the Lord’s rising to new life from the
grave, following His certain death on the cross on Good Friday, and His known
burial place on Friday afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we do some theological[1] work
around the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we come to the conclusion
that the Evil One lacked the tools necessary to tear apart the link between
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Son’s link to the Father. The Devil
lacked the power to separate the Son from the Father, and – while we’re at it –
the Evil One also failed to separate the Son’s oneness with God and our
humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The devil’s plans failed on both
accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By engineering Jesus’ death on Good
Friday, the Devil’s hope was to put Jesus away forever, consigned to a place in
hell, the place where sin is banished. After all, no one got off a Roman cross
alive, and we know from the eyewitness accounts[2] of
the events of Good Friday that Jesus’ death was a public one, and that He was
completely and totally dead.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If Jesus was human, but not divine,
it’s likely that the Devil’s plan might have worked. But hidden in Jesus’
nature is that other nature, that divine one, that one which is one with the
Father. So, it turns out, in trying to snatch Jesus from the living, in an
attempt to claim yet another human victim, the Devil overreached. Jesus’ divine
nature defeats the plot of the Evil One. Jesus cannot be separated from the
Father, it turns out.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Neither can Jesus’ divine nature be
separated from His human nature. The reality of the Lord’s resurrection on
Easter Sunday morning, with His body intact, assures us that the Lord’s
Incarnation (that is, His taking on our humanity to the full) is a permanent
state. Not even a death on the cross can separate that – can tear the two apart
– either.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No wonder that Easter Sunday has been
such a great cause for celebration! If the Lord Jesus cannot be separated from
the Father, neither can all Christian believers be separated from the Lord
Jesus and from the Father. Moreover, our human condition, complete with its physical
realities, are important to God. We can never lose those, either, for God will
preserve us, whether we die and decay, or whether we are alive when the Lord
Jesus returns.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Happy Easter!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thanks be to God.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]</span> Theology has to do with the study of God’s nature, and God’s activity in
human affairs. Oftentimes, studying how God works gives us clues into His
nature. (I hope I’m not making the definition of theology too simple with this
statement.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="text-align: left;">[2] </span><span style="text-align: left;">Both the accounts in Holy Scripture and also
from secular sources.</span><span style="text-align: left;">.</span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p></o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-19796355120980599262023-04-02T10:00:00.001-04:002023-04-02T10:00:00.185-04:00Palm Sunday (The Sunday of the Passion), Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew
21:1 - 11</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Isaiah
50:4 – 9a<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
22:1 - 11<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Philippians
2:5 - 11 <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew
26:14 – 27:66<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, April 2,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“WHAT DIFFERENCE TO THESE EVENTS MAKE?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Matthew 26:14 – 27:66)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The events that took place during the
week which is ahead of us, that is, Holy Week, figure prominently in our faith.
Surely, Christians everywhere know the basics of what happened on Palm Sunday,
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But, in reality, some of the things
that happened nearly 2,000 years ago where common occurrences, most likely.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For example, people entering Jerusalem
for one of the great festivals may have entered to the acclaim of crowds who’d
gathered along the road. For another, a farewell meal, at which a leader of a
movement bade goodbye to his followers, probably wasn’t all that unusual an
occurrence. Nor was crucifixion, the method the Romans used to keep a lid on
the restive population they had conquered and which they ruled with an iron
fist. (Crucifixion – let’s remind ourselves – was a form of “state-sponsored
terrorism”, a stark warning to potential troublemakers of the fate that would
await them if they stepped out-of-line.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We might be on fairly good ground to
imagine that there were various sorts of triumphal entries into Jerusalem at
the time of the great festivals. There were, according to the witness of
Scripture, various movements among the population to challenge the authority
and the presence of the Romans. For example, the great rabbi, Gamaliel, in Acts
5:36 – 37, mentions two such movements: One led by a man named Theudas, and the
other led by Judas, the Galilean. At the festivals, the Romans would have kept
a close watch on the large groups of people who were gathering to attend the
festivals. Perhaps the leaders of these various revolutionary movements entered
the city to the acclaim of some, just as Jesus did on Palm Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, let’s fast-forward to the events
of Good Friday. As was mentioned above, the Romans used crucifixion as a means
of controlling the people they’d conquered. Death on a cross was reserved for
slaves and for conquered peoples…a Roman citizen could not be crucified.[1] It’s
likely that crucifixions were commonplace happenings, perhaps even ones in
which people came to watch the proceedings as some form of macabre
entertainment. There may even have been regularly-appointed days for such
events. In any event, the well-known trajectory for those who would challenge
the authority of the Romans, or, for that matter, the rulers of the Jewish
people (known as the Sanhedrin) was a predictable one: The clear pathway for
challengers was for them to be done away with (as Rabbi Gamaliel testifies). If
need be, the members of the Sanhedrin could manage to cooperate with the Romans
to do away with those who would challenge their place and their authority.
(Normally, these two groups would be opposed to one another’s presence and
purposes.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If the fate that awaited challengers to
the status quo was understood by many, then it’s also possible that Jesus’
farewell to His disciples on Maundy Thursday was also an event that wasn’t
unique. We have other records of various kinds of farewells of leaders to their
followers.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Given the events of Palm Sunday, Maundy
Thursday and Good Friday, if our estimation is that these happenings weren’t
all that unusual, then what makes those events stand out in the Christian
estimation of their importance? Why do we observe (celebrate?) these events?
What makes them important to us?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One answer would be that the events
which lead up to Easter constitute Jesus’ faithfulness in fulfilling God’s plan
for the redemption of the world. Matthew’s Gospel account makes clear that
Jesus had a choice to follow God’s will, or to invoke God’s power to destroy
all those who would plot to do away with Him.[2]<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another answer is that the powers of
evil were conquered when Jesus rose from the tomb on Easter Sunday morning. In
so doing, He confirms God’s power over evil and over death. All the events of Holy
Week, therefore, point to and lead us to, Easter Sunday morning. Can there be
any greater cause for celebration than that?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A question we might ask ourselves,
then, is this: Why are the events of Holy Week important to me? In what way are
they important (or not)? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The answer we supply to these questions
might tell us a lot about the condition of our hearts, and the character and
depth of our faith.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]</span> Later on, however, Christians suffered this
fate, perhaps because of their refusal to sacrifice to the emperor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[2]</span> See Matthew 26:53. Jesus tells His disciples
that, if He asked, God would send twelve legions of angels to defend him. That
would amount to 72,000 angels (a Roman legion had 6,000 soldiers). </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-57314200976533504482023-03-26T10:00:00.006-04:002023-03-26T10:00:00.165-04:00Lent 5, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Ezekiel
37:1 - 14<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
130<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Romans
8:6 – 11<br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">John
11:1 – 45</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, March 26,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“GOD’S POWER: THE POWER TO CREATE AND TO RECREATE”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: John 11:1 – 45)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the beginning of John’s Gospel
account, we read the following: <span class="chapternum"><span style="background: white;">“</span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.</span></span><span style="background: white;"> <span class="text">He was in the beginning with God.<sup> </sup>All things were made
through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.</span> <span class="text">In him was life, and the life was the light of men.</span> <span class="text">The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome
it.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="text"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The themes that are outlined in these opening
verses of John’s account come to fruition in the raising of Lazarus. Specifically,
these themes are the power to create (“All things were made through him”) and
the power to create life, to cast out darkness and to establish light (“In him
was life, and the life was the light of men”).<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="text"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Down through time, as human beings have
interacted with God, and have pondered God’s nature and God’s power, one
consistent understanding has been that at the heart of God’s nature and God’s
power is God’s ability to create things out of nothing, and to recreate and to make
things new.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="text"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Lazarus, Jesus’ friend and the brother of His
friends Mary and Martha, lay dead in the tomb. He’d been dead for four days by
the time that Jesus and the disciples made their way to Bethany, where Mary,
Martha and Lazarus lived. (John seems to indicate that Jesus deliberately
delayed His coming to Bethany.) The four-day period is significant in the
understandings of God’s people at the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry, for
the belief was, back then, that a person’s soul lingered around the body for a
period of three days in the hopes of being reunited with it. So the bottom line
in reading that Lazarus had been dead for four days is to confirm that Lazarus
was completely and totally dead. Furthermore, confirming this understanding is Martha’s
comment that Lazarus’ body would have begun to stink by the time that Jesus
stood before the tomb.</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Into this hopeless situation, we hear
Jesus’ voice, calling to Lazarus, “Come out”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As in the account of creation in the
early chapters of the book of Genesis, Jesus’ voice creates, just as God spoke
the words and said, “Let there be light”. Jesus’ voice says, “Lazarus, come
out”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Out of nothing, out of a complete lack
of hope, a complete lack of life and liveliness, the dead man returns to life
again.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If God can create and can recreate,
even in circumstances like the raising of Lazarus, isn’t it just possible that
God can create within our hearts and our minds a completely new and recreated
self, a self come to life again, a self transformed into God’s image and
likeness?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes, indeed, God can do that. Our Lord
Jesus Christ can do that, simply by saying the words to create anew when our
prayer rises to seek such a rebirth. After all, Jesus’ power to create affirms
His relationship to the Father, for He possesses all of God’s power to create
and to recreate.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thanks be to God!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.</span></b> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-27579431058324461182023-03-19T10:00:00.005-04:002023-03-19T10:00:00.162-04:00Lent 4, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
Samuel 16:1 – 13<br /></span></b><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
23<br /></span></b><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ephesians
5:8 – 14<br /></span></b><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">John
9:1 – 41</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, March
19, 2023, by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #c00000; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“THE EXTENT OF GOD’S JUDGMENT?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: John 9:1 – 41)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When God throws a divine thunderbolt in
judgment on someone, just how far does God’s judgment go? Does it affect only
the person(s) involved, or could it go further, landing on others, as well?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Essentially, this question lies at the
root of the disciples’ questioning of the man’s condition, and also of the
Pharisees’ investigation into the man’s condition and his healing by Jesus.
Both questions have to do with the matter of sin, and of God’s judgment for
sin.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The disciples ask the Lord, “Who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a similar vein, the Pharisees
declare that the man was born in “utter sin”,<span style="color: #2b00fe;">[1]</span> his
utterly sinful condition - stemming from his birth - being responsible for his
blindness.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The disciples’ question about the
origins of the sin which brought about the man’s condition might be based on
something we read in the Ten Commandments. In the second commandment, we read
this: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of
anything that is the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for
I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on
the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.”<span style="color: #2b00fe;">[2]</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The disciples, then, may have had this truth
in mind as they ask if it was the man’s parents who were the ones who brought
judgment upon the man. They may have been influenced by the common belief –
back then – that the cause of illness was due to sin, God’s judgment falling on
the wayward and the disobedient. In addition, the fact that the man had been
born blind may have led them to believe that, since the man hadn’t yet had the
opportunity to commit sin, it must’ve been his parents’ wrongdoing that brought
about his blindness.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Pharisees’ approach is a bit
different.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They attribute the man’s condition to
his sinful state. But they also declare him to be in “utter sin”, having been
born in that condition. (In that sense, the Pharisees assessment of the
situation is somewhat similar to the question the disciples raise.) Their
approbation of the man is based in their conviction that he is a sinner who is
beyond God’s ability to touch and redeem. But their declaration also lies in
something else: The man’s willingness to go toe-to-toe with the Pharisees,
challenging their beliefs and their attitudes. The Pharisees declare, “Would
you teach us?”.<span style="color: #2b00fe;">[3]</span> The blind-man-who-now-sees challenges the Pharisees’ convictions and outlook
(and, as well, their own confidence in their own self-importance).<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Three of the attitudes which seem to have been commonplace during the time of the Lord's earthly ministry are overturned with this miracle.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For one thing, He does away with the
almost fanatical obsession with the observance of the Sabbath day that the
Pharisees (and others) had. (In another circumstance, Jesus declares that the
Sabbath day was made for humankind, not the other way around.)<span style="color: #2b00fe;">[4]</span> The
Lord affirms that doing good for a human being, even on the Sabbath day, is far
more important than a rigorous observance of the day of rest.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For another, we see that the man whom
Jesus healed was able to grasp truths that the so-called religious authorities couldn’t
(or wouldn’t) grasp. The man declares that One who healed him was from God. The
man, essentially, lectures the Pharisees, telling them truths that he had come
to know, but truths they could not understand. The point here, I think is that
God’s truths can be discerned by anyone who comes to God in faith. It isn’t
just the theologically-informed, or the “authorities” who are the masters of
these things. (It’s worth noting that this understanding is one of the key
tenets of the sixteenth-century Reformation….God’s truths can be discerned by
anyone.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For another, Jesus debunks the idea
that the blind man’s condition was due to his (or his parents’) sin(s).<span style="color: #2b00fe;">[5]</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here we come to a key truth: God is
able to bring good things out of bad things. In other words, God is able to bring
about a new, better and more hopeful future, using the circumstances of the
past as the foundation for a new, recreated reality. Jesus tells the disciples
that it wasn’t due to the man’s sins that he was born blind, but that his
condition would be the way in which God’s goodness and mercy could be seen.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Essentially, that’s the central message
of the events of Good Friday and Easter. The evil brought upon Jesus as He is
condemned to die on the cross is due, directly, to the sin of those who accused
Him. But God overcame that evil and ushered in a new, brighter and more hopeful
future as the Lord is raised on Easter Sunday morning.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Returning to the idea with which we
began, we can see in the events of Good Friday and Easter that God’s goodness
and mercy extend beyond the individual, showering others with the blessings of
that goodness and mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thanks be to God!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b>[1]</b></span> </span> John 9:34<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b>[2]</b></span> </span> Exodus 20:4 - 5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><b>[3]</b></span></span> Verse 34<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">[4]</span></b></span> Mark 2:27</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">[5]</span></b></span> In this connection it’s important to understand that wrongdoing on
someone’s part often has a negative impact on others. The truth of the Second
Commandment stands, and ancient Israel understood this as it experienced the
fallout in families and in communities of the evil brought about by someone’s
actions. The Lord’s declaration that sin wasn’t the cause of the blind man’s
condition indicates to us that sin and wrongdoing aren’t automatically the
cause of someone’s illness.</span> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-25084582925936375952023-03-12T10:00:00.001-04:002023-03-12T10:00:00.177-04:00Lent 3, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Exodus
17: 1 – 7<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 95<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Romans 5: 1 – 11<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">John 4: 5 - 42</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, March
12, 2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“WHY BOTHER?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: John 4: 5 – 42)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our Gospel reading, appointed for this
morning, present us with Jesus’ interaction with a Samaritan woman in the
village of Sychar.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At first glance, the conversation that
unfolded between this unnamed woman and Jesus might not seem all that unusual.
But a look beneath the outward nature of this exchange tells us that it was
anything but normal.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For one thing, in that culture and in that
time, a man would not engage in a conversation in public with a woman he wasn’t
related to. So Jesus’ conversation-starter is remarkable, right from the
outset.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For another, He wouldn’t have engaged
in conversation with a Samaritan, any Samaritan, for Jews disliked Samaritans
intensely. (Perhaps we might use the word “hate” to more accurately described
the nature of their regard for Samaritans.) In fact, the dislike was so intense
that many - if not most – Jews would avoid going through Samaria if they were
making their way to or from Galilee and Jerusalem. They would, quite likely
take an easterly route down the Jordan River valley, or they would take a
westerly route along the Mediterranean Sea.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Still another reason that Jesus might
want to ignore or to avoid this Samaritan woman is because of her morals. John
tells us that she had been married five times, and that the man she was
currently with wasn’t her husband. (We don’t know more than that. She may have
been living with the man she was with. We can’t be sure.) Suffice it to say
that she was probably a person who might have been regarded as one who was
“damaged goods”. (Perhaps that’s the reason she came to draw water at the well
in the middle of the day…she was less apt to encounter other villagers at that
time of day.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But John tells us that Jesus “had to”
go through Samaria on His way from Jerusalem to Galilee. The phrase “had to”
often implies divine intention, meaning that Jesus’ decision to go directly
through Samaria was due to His desire to fulfill His Father’s will. His
decision is, most likely, more than a simple decision to take the most direct
route to Galilee. God’s purposes are at work here.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God’s purposes are also at work in Jesus’
actions. Notice that it is Jesus who strikes up the conversation with the
woman. It seems as though Jesus’ decision to take the direct route to Galilee
was part of God’s design and plan, but the Lord’s initiative was also part of
God’s plan.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, the question arises, given the
nature of the route that Jesus decided to take, the disregard He obviously had
for the regard most Jews had for Samaritans, His disregard for societal norms
in striking up a conversation with the woman, and His disregard for her marital
past (which, John tells us, He knew about): Why did Jesus bother with this
woman? Most people wouldn’t have. They wouldn’t have had the interest, nor the
willingness, to reach out to her.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps the reason is simply this: No
one is beyond the Lord’s ability to reach out to and to rescue. No one is a
“throw away” person. No one’s past life is a bar to the guarantee of a new,
better and full life in God. No one.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We could take a lesson from our Lord’s
actions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do we regard anyone with contempt? Do
we think that any one is beyond God’s ability to help and to save? Do we
decide, up front, that we can’t be bothered to share the Good News of God in
Christ, because someone we’ve encountered either won’t be interested, or won’t
be receptive to that message?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today’s Gospel reminds us of our Lord’s
ways of doing things. He reaches out to the marginalized and the “untouchables”
of His day. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We should be doing that very same
thing.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> </span> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-80719025991688874352023-03-05T10:00:00.001-05:002023-03-05T16:17:06.672-05:00Lent 2, Year A (2023<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Genesis
12:1 – 4a<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
121<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Romans
4:1 – 5, 13 – 17<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">John
3:1 – 17</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, March 5,
2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“GO WITH ME TO A PLACE I WILL SHOW YOU”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily texts: Genesis 12:1 – 4a &
John 3:1 – 17)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In our Genesis reading, appointed for
this morning, we read God’s command to Abram, as He says, “Go from your country…to
a land that I will show you.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In much the same way, we might
characterize Jesus’ invitation to Nicodemus in this way: “Come, Nicodemus, to a
place that I (Jesus) will show you.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That place that Jesus has in mind is
the place of the mind, the heart and the spirit, the place of spiritual
realities and the place where God most seeks to dwell.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before we look more closely at the
interchange between Nicodemus and the Lord, we might do well to take a moment
to examine some details of this encounter.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For one thing, Nicodemus is identified
as being a “ruler of the Jews”, which probably meant that he was a member of
the ruling council known as the Sanhedrin. For another, Nicodemus is obviously
on a fact-finding mission. Whether or not he’s been sent by the Sanhedrin to
check Jesus out, or whether or not Nicodemus came on his own, we don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, let’s notice that Nicodemus comes
to Jesus at nighttime. It’s possible that this detail is important, for in
John’s writings in general, the theme of light and darkness figures
prominently. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In John’s understanding, darkness isn’t
just physical darkness, it also represents spiritual darkness. In Nicodemus’
case, it’s obvious that Nicodemus is living in darkness, for in response to
Jesus’ remark that he must be born “again” or “from above”[1], he
asks if it would be possible for a man, now fully grown, to re-enter his
mother’s womb in order to be born again. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nicodemus is thinking in the obvious,
literal, outward sense of things, the sense of things that we get the
impression was common among God’s people in that day and time. We can see this
in the emphasis that those like the Pharisees placed on the outward observance
of the requirements of the Law of Moses. For example, Jesus gets into trouble
for healing on the Sabbath day, and for plucking grain from the fields as He
and His disciples walk, also on the Sabbath day.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The knowledge of the inner life of a
walk with God seems to be either missing entirely, or is being overlooked. To
Nicodemus, such a place seems to be entirely unknown to him.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus then asks him to come to a place
that He, the Lord, will show him. It is the place where the Spirit of God
works, the place where God is active. Coming to such a place, becoming a
citizen of such a place, requires nothing less than an entirely new way of
seeing things, of understanding spiritual realities, not just physical
realities. Such a place is a place where God’s love is experienced. Such a
place must’ve seemed strange to Nicodemus, steeped as he was in a knowledge of
God’s judgmental ways, ways which the requirements of the Law of Moses seemed
design to highlight. By keeping the requirements of the Law, one sought to
ameliorate God’s judgment for wrongdoing. Such an emphasis leads to the
conclusion that if one does the right thing, then God will bless, but,
conversely, if one does wrong, illness, poverty and the like are seen as God’s
judgment.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus invites Nicodemus into a place of
God’s love, saying, “For God so loved the world…..” In John’s understanding,
the “world” consists of all those who are opposed to God’s ways and God’s
message, seen in the sending of God’s Son. The import here, then, is that God
loves even those who are opposed to Him and to His purposes in the world. Yes,
even them.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Did Nicodemus “get it”? Perhaps he did.
For we read in John 19:39 that Nicodemus came with Joseph of Arimathea to
anoint Jesus’ body after His death, and to give Jesus’ body a proper burial.
The verdict on Nicodemus’ spiritual condition can’t be discerned from these
actions, although it seems likely that he did respond to Jesus’ teaching.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our Lord calls us into a place of
spiritual maturity, a place where the inner life of the spirit requires us to
come to a fulness of understanding of God’s ways and God’s intents. It is a
place where we enter into an intense, deeply personal love relationship with
God through the Son. As we walk with the Lord, gaining in spiritual maturity,
the ways in which our outward and observable manner of life will change. This
is nothing less than a sacramental understanding of the ways of God, who works
in the inner person in order to change the outer one.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
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<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]</span> The Greek word can mean either “again” or
“from above”. </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-6033351603646083542023-02-26T10:00:00.001-05:002023-02-26T10:00:00.163-05:00Lent 1, Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Genesis
2:15 – 17, 3:1 - 7<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
32<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Romans
5:12 – 19<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew
4:1 - 11</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, February
26, 2023, by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily texts: Genesis 2:15 – 17, 3:1 – 7 & Matthew 4:1
– 11)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whenever we consider taking on a
project, it’s always a good idea to calculate what it will involve.
Specifically, we might consider what the costs will be in terms of time, money,
expertise, and so forth. If the project or the undertaking is considerably challenging,
we might want to consider and reconsider what will be involved.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, for example, in planning to build a
house, we’d want to know how much material, and what sort of material, will be
involved, and also what the cost of those materials might be. We’d also want to
plan to engage people with specific skills to make sure the project is done
well.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For another example, consider a plan to
create a meal or to bake a dessert. Many of the same considerations will apply.
We’d want to be sure we have all the ingredients before starting. We’d want to
be sure that the oven or whatever we’ll be using to bring our creation to
reality is in good working order. And so forth.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s mandatory when considering going
up against an enemy that a careful review of that enemy’s abilities and ways of
waging war are taken into account. (I can’t resist saying that, if Vladimir
Putin had done his homework, he never would have invaded Ukraine, for now he’s
gotten himself into a mess, and into a war there is no way whatsoever that he
can win.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With the coming of this season of Lent,
we ought to face the reality that we are engaged in a war, a battle of
spiritual truths versus the destructive ways of evil.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our Old Testament reading from the book
of Genesis, and our Gospel text from Matthew, both describe such a spiritual
battle. In the first account, Adam and Eve fail on the spiritual battlefield,
but in the second account, Jesus conquers the suggestions and the temptations
presented to Him by Satan.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In keeping with the premise with which
we began, let’s look carefully at the Genesis account, and at Jesus’ time in
the wilderness (forty days and forty nights, this period of time forming the
basis for the length of the Lenten season).
We will see, I think some common threads, which are the ways the evil
one goes about trying to separate us from God:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Naturally
occurring tendencies within human beings will often be used as the avenue of
approach when temptations are presented.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dividing
people, one from another, is a common tactic.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With these two principles in mind,
let’s turn our attention to the account of Adam and Eve’s interaction with the
serpent, from the Genesis account.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Notice that the serpent (which is – in
Holy Scripture – the depiction of evil) approaches Eve (but not Adam) and
deliberately distorts God’s instructions about the eating of the fruit of the
tree that is “off limits”. Two things are apparent here: One is that the
serpent doesn’t approach both Adam and Eve, but Eve only. Then, notice also
that the serpent’s appeal is to the need for food. Also present is a deliberate
distortion of God’s instructions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One other appeal is also important: The
serpent’s suggestion that, if the fruit of the tree is eaten, it will make her
and her husband wise, “like God”. This is an appeal to safety and security, to
being able to control one’s own future and environment.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, let’s turn our attention to Jesus’
interaction with the evil one, as we hear it in Matthew’s account.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There, some of the same threads are
present, just as they were in Genesis.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For example, the evil one approaches
Jesus when He is alone.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then, the evil one makes an appeal to
Jesus’ need for food (just as was the case with Eve).<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, notice that there is an appeal
to safety and security, and to being in control, as Satan suggests that if
Jesus will throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple, His feet will be
born up by angels (a use of Psalm 91, by the way). Here is an appeal to safety.
Also present, as was the case in the Garden of Eden, is an appeal to be in
control: The devil offers Jesus control over the kingdoms of the world, if only
He will worship him.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With the coming of Lent, it would be
wise for us to be fully aware of the nature of the spiritual battles that will
come our way. It is also wise for us to be aware of the ways of operating that
the evil one may employ against us, for they will often have a lot in common
with the ways we read about in Genesis and in Matthew.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The evil one may appeal to some
naturally-occurring desire within us, just as he did with Eve and with the
Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He may appeal to our need for safety
and security, and our desire to be able to control our destiny and our future.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He will, quite often, seek to separate
us one from another, in order to make us an easier prey for his attack on us.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are the defenses that we might
employ to ward off the inevitable attacks of the one whose desire for us is to
separate us from God, and from one another?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The antidotes are the same as those we
read of in the pages of Holy Scripture, specifically:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"></p><ul><li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Proper
use of the whole of Holy Scripture, avoiding distortions of its meaning and
likewise, avoiding a pick-and-choose use of the passages that seek only to
comfort us, but not to challenge us.<o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Paying
particular attention to those naturally-occurring desires that arise within us
that might be avenues by which the evil one might approach us, offering
temptations.<o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maintaining
the unity of the body of Christ, the Church, by engaging in regular, in-person
worship, study and gatherings. (Frankly, I think we must be wary of widespread
use of electronic and online ways of gathering for worship, for it is difficult
to discern in each other how our spiritual walk is going if we are not
physically present with one another.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May we calculate with the clarity that
the Holy Spirit can provide the nature of the spiritual battles that will
inevitably come our way, that we may claim the victory, as our Lord did in His
temptation.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.</span></b> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-71745077015968466642023-02-22T12:00:00.001-05:002023-02-26T07:28:36.309-05:00Ash Wednesday, (Year A 2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Joel
2:1 – 2, 12 – 17<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
103:8 - 14<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">II
Corinthians 5:20b – 6:10<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Matthew
6:1 – 6, 16 - 21</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Wednesday,
February 22, 2023, by Fr. Gene Tucker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #c00000;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">“BRINGING NOTHING, BUT POSSESSING EVERYTHING”</span><br /></b></span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily text: Joel 2:1 – 2, 12 – 17)</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We brought nothing into this world,
and we cannot take anything out of this world.” (I Timothy 6:7)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">St. Paul’s words, which we read in his
first letter to his disciple, Timothy, summarize our situation and condition
before God.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Paul affirms that we come into this
world, helpless and dependent upon others. We come empty-handed, in other
words. We have nothing to offer but ourselves and the prospect of a fruitful
life.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And yet, our arrival is usually the
source of joy to those who assisted God in bringing us into this world, and who
will care for us, raise us, and see us grow into maturity. (At least that’s the
ideal situation…I am well aware that it isn’t always this way.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At baptism, by which we are brought
into the world of faith, we also come empty-handed, possessing nothing to offer
but ourselves and the prospect that we will grow into the full measure of faith
that God has in store for us.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The coming of this holy season of Lent
might remind us of our helplessness and our lack of a suitable offering to make
to God. Our wayward ways make us less-than-acceptable to the holy God. Our inconsistent
walk with God makes us unreliable companions on the way of faith.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And yet, if we recognize these truths
about ourselves, and come to the ugly truth that we come to God empty-handed,
then we stand an excellent chance of possessing everything, everything of the
great store of God’s goodness, God’s love, His generosity and grace.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For the truth of God is that God’s
essential nature is to love. God’s essential nature is also to want to be in
relationship with each one of us. God’s desire for us is so great that He is
willing to take us into a love relationship in whatever condition we come,
offering only ourselves, freed of any pretense. But, of course, the fruits of
such an intense, one-on-one relationship with God the Father through God the
Son will be seen in the changes that will take place in our nature and in our
behavior. The truth of God also carries with it the guarantee that such a
genuine relationship will result in changes in us. God never leaves us where He
finds us, it is said.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The call of Lent resounds like the call
of the ancient prophet Joel, who bids God’s people to come to repentance with
the call of the trumpet, a call to alarm, a call to set aside any and
everything to enter into a time of self-examination and amendment of life.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do we really and genuinely have a
personal, ongoing and lively faith relationship with the Lord? That question
might guide us through this season of Lent.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.</span></b> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545388.post-82767369176632354872023-02-19T10:00:00.003-05:002023-02-20T17:54:15.370-05:00The Last Sunday after the Epiphany – Year A (2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Exodus
24:12 – 18 / Psalm 2 / II Peter 1:16 – 21 / Matthew
27:1 – 9</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, February
19, 2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“GOD’S SELF-REVELATION PLAN”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Homily texts: II Peter 1:16 – 21 &
Matthew 17:1 – 9)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Usually, God reveals Himself to us in
small increments of truth. This one-step-at-a-time approach allows us to come
to know God more fully, more deeply, and more securely. Such a revelation on an
installment plan (if you will), also allows us to link together God’s will for
our lives and our daily walk with Him, seeing God being present in the depths
of human experience, and rejoicing in His presence in times of celebration. (I
suspect that, if God chose to reveal a great deal of who He is, all at once,
most of us probably couldn’t digest the enormity of that revelation.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peter and the other disciples, as they follow
Jesus, are on the step-by-step, one lesson at a time, revelation plan.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It might serve us well to back up from
today’s Gospel reading, which takes us to the holy mountain where Jesus’
appearance was transfigured (changed) before Peter, James and John’s eyes, to
the previous chapter in Matthew’s Gospel account, to see the trajectory of the
Lord’s revelation to the disciples, and especially, to these three chosen
witnesses of Jesus’ true identity and glory as His appearance is altered.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>We need to begin in the middle of
chapter sixteen in Matthew’s account</b>[1]<b>.
There, we read that Jesus asks His disciples about His identity. The question
is posed, initially, in general terms. The Lord asks, “Who do </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">people</i><b> say
that the </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Son of</i> <i style="font-weight: bold;">Man</i><b> is?” ((Italics mine) The disciples answer
that perhaps the Son of Man is John the Baptist, or Elijah, of Jeremiah, or one
of the prophets. Then, Jesus narrows the question, asking, “But who do </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">you</i><b>
say that </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">I </i><b>am?” Notice how “people’ in the first question now becomes
“you”, and the “Son of Man” now becomes “I” in the second question. It is
Peter, impetuous Peter, who answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.” Jesus says that Peter hasn’t come to this knowledge by his own personal
means, but that the Father has revealed this truth to him.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With this interchange, lesson one in
God’s plan of self-revelation is complete.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Now, it’s possible that Jesus concludes
that the disciples are ready for lesson two in God’s revelatory plan, for He
begins to tell the disciples what will happen to Him as He makes His way to
Jerusalem for the great feast of Passover. He says that He will “suffer many
things from the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and that He will be
killed, and on the third day, He will be raised.”</b>[2]<b> It is Peter, again, who speaks up, rebuking
the Lord and saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to
you.” The Lord’s response is a sharp one, as He tells Peter, “Get behind me,
Satan! You are a hindrance to me….”</b>[3]<b> Then
the Lord begins to talk about the need that His disciples will have, each one
of them, to take up their cross in order to follow Him.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lesson two is now complete.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Perhaps it is because God, in His
infinite care and love for us human beings, doesn’t leave those initial
disciples in a deep, hopeless place, facing the prospect that the One who
called them into ministry, and who has been forming and shaping them for that
ministry, will soon suffer an awful death. For now, Jesus takes three of them,
Peter, James and John, up a mountain</b>[4]<b> with
Him. There, they are given a glimpse of the other side of Jesus’ nature, His
divine side, as He appears in glory with the Old Testament prophets Moses and
Elijah.</b>[5]<b> His
appearance reflects the glory of God, and His identity is confirmed by the
Father’s voice, which says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased. Listen to him.”</b>[6]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we trace the unfolding of these
events, the Lord’s asking His disciples what they think about His identity, the
Lord’s disclosure of His coming death, Peter’s inability to accept that truth,
and the Lord’s transfiguring appearance before Peter, James and John, we see
two things at work:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God
is revealing Himself, and something about His nature, to His followers, bit by
bit.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God
is present and is at work in the depths of human experience, but He is also
present and is at work in the heights of knowing the majesty, identity and
power of God. We can see the lasting effects of Peter’s experience on that
mountain, as he recalled, many years later, God’s revelation of Jesus’ nature
in his second letter, heard this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We are about to embark on our Lenten
journey this week, as Ash Wednesday rolls around.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Liturgically, throughout this holy
season of Lent, we are walking with the Lord from the mount of Transfiguration
down into the valley, making our way to Jerusalem, to the Lord’s betrayal,
arrest, suffering, death and resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This holy season allows us the
opportunity to ask for the Lord’s help to see ourselves as God sees us. What we
might discover with the assistance of the Holy Spirit might be pretty
depressing. It might lead us to a deep sense of despair over our spiritual
condition. But, perhaps, such an honest look and a willingness to face the
truth about ourselves might also allow us to ask God to put away from us those
things that are less than honorable in God’s sight.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We can be sure that, as God is present
with us in whatever deep places we may find ourselves, there is no depth of
human experience that can escape God’s presence and God’s ability to heal us
and to save us. For even in the lowest places we may find ourselves, there God
will be, also, providing us a glimpse of His identity, power and love.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><div>
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/e32126d37e1ecc94/Desktop/Year%20A%20Last%20Epiphany.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Matthew 16:13 - 20<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/e32126d37e1ecc94/Desktop/Year%20A%20Last%20Epiphany.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> This is the first of three revelations of
the Lord’s impending death.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/e32126d37e1ecc94/Desktop/Year%20A%20Last%20Epiphany.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Matthew 16:21 - 28<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/e32126d37e1ecc94/Desktop/Year%20A%20Last%20Epiphany.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> The traditional place where the
Transfiguration took place is Mount Tabor, which is located a little southwest
of the Sea of Galilee. But some biblical scholars believe that the
Transfiguration may have taken place further north, on Mount Herman, because
Jesus asked His disciples about His identity, Matthew tells us, in the region
of Caesarea Philippi, which is nearby to Mount Herman.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/e32126d37e1ecc94/Desktop/Year%20A%20Last%20Epiphany.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> The Transfiguration is remembered, each
year, on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. But it is such an important event
in the lives of the disciples, and in the life of the Church, that it is also
celebrated, each year, on August 6<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/e32126d37e1ecc94/Desktop/Year%20A%20Last%20Epiphany.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[6]</span></span></span></a> Matthew 17:5b </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com