Friar Tuck's Sermons

3 Epiphany, Year B

2012-01-22T10:30:00.000-06:00

Jonah 3: 1 – 5, 10
Psalm 62: 6 - 14
I Corinthians 7: 29 - 31
Mark 1: 14 - 20

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, January22, 2012.

“GOD’S CALL TO US IN CHRIST”

(Homily text: Mark 1: 14 - 20)

(Introductoryremark: This homily is a reflection onthe text of the hymn “Jesus Calls Us, O’er the Tumult”. This hymn is based on the parallel account totoday’s gospel reading from Mark 1: 14 - 20 of Jesus’ call to Andrew, Peter,James and John as we read it in Matthew 4: 18 – 22. There, Jesus calls these disciples, saying tothem, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”)

Verse one: Jesuscalls us, o’er the tumult

Of ourlife’s wild, restless sea;

                                    Day by dayhis sweet voice soundeth,
                                    Saying,“Christian, follow me.”

            Reflection: The image of the phrase “life’s wild,restless sea” is reminiscent of the account of Jesus’ walking on thewater. Remember that as Jesus made Hisway toward the disciples who were in the boat on the Sea of Galilee (seeMatthew 14: 22 – 33), the water was beaten by the wind. As Peter recognized Jesus, he called out,saying, “Lord if it is you, bid me come to you on the water. At the Lord’s bidding, Peter got out of theboat and walked over the surface of the water. He walked over the surface, that is, until he stopped looking at Jesus,and saw the wind and the waves. He beganto sink.

            Jesuscalls us, saying to us, “Get out of the boat.” Take the chance, like Peter, that once we leave the safety of the boatof life, we will overcome the restless and wild sea of that life, but only solong as we keep our eyes on the Lord.

            Butwe may be tempted to ask, “When did the Lord call us?” The answer, of course, is in ourbaptisms…when we passed through the waters, being buried with Christ in a deathlike His (as St. Paul says in Romans 6: 3 – 9), and being raised to new life ina resurrection like His, we become new creatures in Christ.

            However,that first call isn’t the end of the calling…notice that verse one of our hymnsays, “Day by day His sweet voice soundeth.” There is the reality, that the Lord’s voice asks us to “Get out of theboat” and take the risk of following Him, day by day.

            Verse two:       Asof old th’apostles heard it
                                    By theGalilean lake,
                                    Turned fromhome and toil and kindred,
                                    Leavingall for Jesus’ sake.

            Reflection: Jesus’ call to “Follow me,” meant that thelives of Andrew and Peter, James and John, changed. All of them were fishermen, engaged in whatwere most likely family businesses. SoJesus’ call to them did mean leaving home, family and familiar surroundings.

            Jesus’call thus became the most important reality in their lives from that dayforward.

            Insome cases, Jesus’ call means leaving everything behind in order to followHim. We can see this in the cases ofmissionaries who go to far away places to spread the Good News of the kingdomof God. In other cases, men and womenenter monasteries or convents to follow the Lord’s call.

            Butfor most of us, the choice to follow the Lord may not be so clearly seen, formost of us won’t sever our ties to family or location in order to live theChristian life.

            Forus who make this latter choice, what changes is the nature of our relationshipsto loved ones and to familiar careers….Now, our choice to follow Jesus meansthat our ongoing relationships take on a different hue, for they are nowcolored by our allegiance to Jesus Christ, which becomes first in our lives.

            Versethree:     Jesus calls us from the worship
                                    Of the vainworld’s golden store,
                                    From eachidol that would keep us,
                                    Saying,“Christian, love me more!”

            Reflection: Verse three follows naturally upon what we’vesaid about our ongoing relationships with family, loved ones and careers. In such cases, contact with those we love andwith familiar surroundings means that the attractiveness that theserelationships might have had before coming to Christ are still able to exercisetheir pull over us.

            Whena person leaves home, family, career and location to follow the Lord into somesort of a ministry, eventually the contacts and the attraction of those personsand things begins to fade in their importance to us.

            Notso in the case of most of us who don’t sever our ties in such dramaticways. Things we used to care about stillinvite us to restore them to their former prominence in our lives.

            Thatroad is a much harder one to walk, it seems to me. It takes diligence to be aware of the “pull”of these former things, and a daily renewal of our vow to make the Lord firstin our lives. After all, anything thattakes the first place that the Lord ought to have qualifies as an idol.

            Verse four:      Inour joys and in our sorrows,
                                    Days of toiland hours of ease,
                                    Still hecalls, in cares and pleasures,
                                    “Christian,love me more than these!”

            Reflection: The “business” of life (or perhaps I shouldsay the “busyness”) often threatens to engulf us. There’s always so much to do, so much to beaccomplished, so many demands on our time and attention. This says nothing about the distractions thatthe contemporary world offers…we are a distracted culture, enamored by moretoys and gadgets than any other in human history. (A wonderful book entitled “Amusing Ourselvesto Death” makes this point clearly and forcefully.)

            Immersedas we are in a culture that seeks, above all, to be entertained (yes, even manychurch services today are geared toward entertaining its members, using seculartools from the entertainment world as means to advance what is wronglyperceived to be worship), it is difficult not to allow the waters of theculture in which we sail to seep into the ship of faith. For there is always some water in the bilgesof that ship, water that, if left unattended to, will destabilize the ship offaith. So Jesus’call to “Love me morethan these,” is a call to see that destabilizing presence, and to get the pumpsin motion to pump these distractions out of our ship of faith.

            Verse five:       Jesuscalls us! By thy mercies,
                                    Savior, maywe hear thy call,
                                    Give ourhearts to thine obedience,
                                    Serveand love thee best of all!

           Reflection: Just as each verse of the hymn renews Jesus’call, asking us to hear His voice, again and again, so now this last verseseeks Jesus’ mercies to enable us to hear His voice.

            WithoutGod’s power, a power which comes to us and is within us even before we can actor respond, we are unable to turn to God in Christ. This is true of our baptisms….we cannotrespond to God’s love without that grace of God which comes into our hearts inthe first place, a grace which allows us to respond.

            Butas we said near the beginning of this reflection, God’s grace and presence alsoallows us to respond again and again to that call of Christ which comes, day byday, year by year. The call comes, againand again.

            Andwhen we respond, we come into an intimate and loving embrace, and into thatsort of obedience which arises out of love, not because of threats, nor out ofcompulsion, but out of love.

            Thanksbe to God!

AMEN.

2 Ephiphany, Year B

2012-01-15T10:30:00.000-06:00

ISamuel 3: 1 - 20; Psalm139: 1 – 5, 12 - 17; ICorinthians 6: 12 – 20; John1: 43 - 51

Ahomily by Fr. Gene Tucker, givenat TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois;Sunday, January 15, 2012.

“MARKERSOF GOD’S PRESENCE IN JESUS CHRIST”

We are working our waythrough the season of Epiphany. Epiphanyis a word which comes to us from the Greek, meaning “appearing”. So a key theme of this season of the Church’syear is a consideration of the ways in which Jesus appears to us, becomes knownto us. Put another way, we could saythat we ask ourselves, “What are the markers that tell us that Jesus is theMessiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God?”

Set that question aside for just amoment, and allow me to make an excursisintothe meaning of Epiphany. This Feast inthe Church Year (and the season which follows it) also carries another title,which is “The Manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles”. During this season, we begin by celebrating(on the Feast of Epiphany itself, that is, January 6th) the visit ofthe Magi to the young Jesus, whenthey presented gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to him. These were the first Gentiles to recognizeJesus for who He is, the promised One. Then, last Sunday, we heard the account of Jesus’ baptism in the RiverJordan by John the baptizer. On thatoccasion, as Jesus came up out of the water, the Scripture tells us that theHoly Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove, and a voice was heard,saying, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:4 –11)

So, to summarize what we’ve justsaid, we could say this:

On the Feast of Epiphany, we mark thefirst occasion of the coming of Gentiles to Christ.
On the First Sunday after the Epiphany,we see evidence that God is at work in the person of Jesus Christ as the HolySpirit descends, and the voice is heard, saying, “You are my Son….” Here we have evidence of the fullness of theGodhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Now, let’s return to the text beforeus today, and notice how the distinctive attributes of God are present in theencounter between Jesus and Nathanael….

When Jesus greets Nathanael, Hesays, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Here is evidence of divine omniscience….God’s power to know allthings. Jesus possesses this power, tosee and to know things that human beings’ limited powers cannot see and cannotknow.

God is at work in the person ofJesus Christ.

This divine quality will be seenthroughout John’s gospel account….time and again, Jesus will see and will knowthings that ordinary human beings cannot know.

Ah….this is a “marker” that tells usthat God is at work here.

And, in case Nathanael (and Philip)wondered how Jesus could possibly have seen Nathanael under that fig tree,Jesus confirms that God’s power is at work here by His comment (verse 51),which says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and theangels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” (John 1: 51).

What could Jesus’ statement possiblymean?

The answer lies in the Book ofGenesis, chapter 28, in the account of Jacob’s dream at Bethel…There, Jacoblies down and dreams that there is a ladder between earth and heaven, and theangels of God ascend and descend on it (Genesis 28:12). Notice that Jesus uses the same language aswe read in Genesis. Nathanael and Philipwould (most likely) have made the connection.

Then Jacob says this, “Surely theLord is in this place, and I did not know it.” (Genesis 28:16)

So the meaning of Jesus’ commentseems clear: Jesus is telling us thatthe Lord is present in the person of Jesus Himself, and that He will be theconnection between earth and heaven.

These conclusions seem quite safe tomake, I think.

Well, what application might we maketo our own lives in the 21st century from the encounter betweenJesus and Nathanael? What lesson isthere for us in this incident?

Perhaps this: Jesus Christ remains the One whose divinewisdom and divine insight continue to enlighten us. When we come into an intimate relationshipwith God through Jesus Christ, God’s free gift which we receive by faith, webecome sons and daughters of God, and heirs of God’s promises, made in JesusChrist.

(That is the heart of the Christianfaith!)

Once that relationship isestablished, we then are guided by God’s wisdom, God’s ability to see into thefuture, and to know things that we mere human beings cannot know.

If we allow God’s guiding to be thefoundational principle of our lives, then His will will be done in our lives,and His will will be done on earth through our actions (as the Lord’s Prayersays).

Allow me to make a personalobservation as I close: As I reflect onmy own life experience, I can see times when I have followed God’s will,oftentimes not knowing exactly how each step in my life would unfold. When God’s will was followed, things turnedout much better than if I’d followed my own will and my own desires.

Alas, the opposite is also true inmy own life’s experiences…there have been times when I didn’t follow God’swill, and the result was either disastrous or less-than-good.

So the lesson to be gleaned here isthat we are called to take time to listen for God’s voice and God’sleading…..that may mean that we will have to take time away from our owndeliberations and our own desires to wait until God’s leading is clear.

We can trust God’s leading us, as wecontinue to follow Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Thanks be to the God whose wisdomsurpasses our own, and whose will for us brings about more than we can desireor ask for.

AMEN.

Year B, The Baptism of Our Lord

2012-01-08T10:30:00.000-06:00

Genesis 1: 1 - 5; Psalm 29; Acts 19: 1 - 7; Mark 1: 4 - 11

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, January8, 2012.

“SIGNPOSTS”

(Homily texts: Acts 19: 1 – 7 & Mark 1: 4 - 11)

“Andyou, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go beforethe Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people forthe forgiveness of their sins.” (Luke 1:76 – 77)

Thosewere the words of Zechariah as he looked at his young son, John (who wouldlater be known as “the baptizer”) on the occasion of John’s circumcision andnaming.

Johnthe baptizer was a signpost, pointingto the one who would come, that is, Jesus.

Zechariah’swords capture that sense as he said, “And you, child, will be called theprophet of the Most High, for you will gobefore the Lord to prepare his ways….) (italics mine, of course).

Aswe read all four gospel accounts, we see clearly that John understood himselfto be the forerunner, the one who prepared the way for the Lord JesusChrist. Here, today, we hear Mark’saccount of John’s self-assessment: “Afterme comes one who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthyto stoop down and untie. I have baptizedyou with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1: 7 – 8)

Johnpoints the way to Jesus. Like a goodsignpost, John lets us know the direction we must go to find the Lord, and toknow what to look for when we have arrived at that destination.

Eachmorning, I read Zechariah’s words when Ipray the Daily Office, that is, Morning Prayer (found at the very front of theBook of Common Prayer….I commend praying the Daily Office to you…plan to make aNew Year’s resolution to pick up this wonderful habit of praying Morning and/orEvening Prayer daily…your life will be the richer for it!). The words sink into my heart: “And you, child, will be called the prophetof the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways….”

Everytime I read those words, I think they apply to me just as much as they appliedto John the baptizer nearly 2,000 years ago.

Thesewords apply to every one of us, for we are all called, each and every one of us,to prepare the way for the Lord, to point others to Jesus Christ.

Howmight we do that, exactly?

Fora possible answer to that question, allow me to use as an illustration thesigns that we use in everyday life.

Thefirst observation would be that signs are extremely important….ever think aboutjust how lost a person could be without signs? We wouldn’t know for sure, for example, if we were on the right road, orif we were in the right town (unless we knew the area quite well for somereason).

Thesecond observation is this: signs areimportant, but only when they point to some other reality. Maybe that statement doesn’t make sense atfirst reading, so allow an explanation to clarify the statement….For example,the sign at the edge of town that says “Mt. Vernon” isn’t all thatimportant. What’s important is that,once you’ve reached that sign, you know that you’ve reached your destination.

Thethird observation is that signs must be factually accurate. It wouldn’t do to have a sign which read, “20miles to Mt. Vernon” when the truth is that, from where we are currently, it isreally 200 miles to Mt. Vernon.

Now,let’s apply these observations to our life in Christ.

Ourfirst observation was that signs are extremely important. But do we ever think of our lives as signswhich point to God, or away from Him? That thought ought to make us sit up and think, and to reflect on ourlifestyle. We might reflect on thethings we say, the things we do, and the way we regard others.

Toreflect on all of these aspects of our daily lives is to go beyond simply beinga “nice guy”, one who has mastered all the social skills that one might learnfrom taking the Dale Carnegie Course.

Theissue is much deeper than the superficial social interactions of daily life. The heart of the matter is how we love oneanother in the Lord, especially when the challenges and hardships of life mightprompt us to pull into ourselves and let others cope with the burdens that cometheir way.

Lookingback into history, we read that outsiders looked at the early Church and said,“See how these Christians love one another.” There is no higher praise than that. That sort of self-giving, self-emptying lovethat we experience in Jesus Christ ought to be the most noticeable sign thatJesus Christ has taken up residence in our hearts and in our minds.

Thesecond observation had to do with the fact that signs, in-and-of-themselves,aren’t all that important. It’s thereality that they point to which is important.

Forthe early Church, apparently John the baptizer’s popularity caused a problem,for many followed him, rather than Jesus. We have evidence that John continued to have a significant following forsometime after Jesus’ death and resurrection in our reading from Acts 19 this morning. Notice that Paul encounters some of John’s disciplesin the city of Ephesus (which is located in the western part of modern dayTurkey). They were John’ disciples, notJesus’ disciples.

Somehow,these disciples of John missed an important part of John’s message, that partwhich said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” Paul had to correct their information,telling them that John’s baptism was for repentance of sins, and that theyshould believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.

Sowe can safely conclude that John pointed away from himself and toward Jesus.

Applyingthis truth to our own lives, we might reflect on the motivations which liebehind our reasons for doing things within the Church….Do we do what we do inorder to seek personal recognition? Orare we fulfilling the ministries that we carry out because they allow us toempty ourselves in service to the Lord and to others? (Remember that the word “ministry” has thesame Latin root as the English word “minus”.)

Speakingpersonally as a priest, it troubles me greatly whenever I hear accounts of aperson who’s in ordained ministry who encourages the formation of a “cult ofpersonality”. Anyone in ordainedministry ought to do everything possible to discourage personal adoration andattention, for the one who deserves our adoration and attention is JesusChrist. Those things belong to Him, andto Him alone.

Thenfinally, the third observation was that a sign must be factually accurate. Our lives as Christian believers mustaccurately portray the distinctive markers of Christ’s indwellingpresence. Paul, writing to the earlybelievers in Galatia, identifies some of these markers. Calling them the “fruits of the Spirit”, hereis his list: “Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” And after this list, he adds, “Against thesethings, there is no law.” (Galatians 5: 22 – 23).

Itis a New Year. Perhaps we might resolveto seek to be better signposts, better prophets of the Most High, who willprepare the way of the Lord in 2012. Aswe make that resolution, may we pray for Christ’s indwelling presence to bemade known to us, that the power of the Holy Spirit may enable us to keep thecommitment we have made to the Lord.

AMEN.

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, Year B

2011-12-25T10:30:00.000-06:00

Isaiah 52: 7 - 10; Psalm 98; Hebrews1: 1 - 12; John 1: 1 - 14

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Christmas Day,December 25, 2011.

“BIG PICTURE, LITTLE PICTURE”

(Homily texts: Hebrews 1: 1 – 12 & John 1: 1 - 14)

“Inthe beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word wasGod, He was in the beginning with God;all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that wasmade. In him was life, and the life wasthe light of men. The light shines inthe darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1: 1 – 5)

“Inthe beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and thedarkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving overthe face of the waters. And God said,‘Let there be light;’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light fromthe darkness.” (Genesis 1: 1 – 2)

Scholarshave long noticed the parallels between these two texts.

Somecommon threads bind them together:

1. “In the beginning…”

2. Unity between God and God’s word

3. The creative power of God’s word

4. Light and darkness

Whenapplied to the “Word” as it is used in John’s gospel account, the person who isreferred to as the “Word” is Jesus Christ (we read a bit later on in the firstchapter of John…see verse 17).

Soit is Jesus Christ who is with God “in the beginning”.

Wecould safely say that John is describing the “big picture”….Here is the creatorof the universe, the world, and everything that is in it, that is, JesusChrist. Our reading from the Letter tothe Hebrews affirms the same reality as it says that “God has spoken to us by aSon, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created theworld.” The writer of the Letter to theHebrews goes on to say that the Son “upholds the universe by his word of power.” (Notice the use of “word” again here.)

Theologianshave a term that is used to describe Jesus Christ’s unity with the Father, theidea that Jesus Christ is fully God…they call this “High Christology”.[1]

Nowthe awesome thing is this: That thecreator of the universe would come to take on our humanity, seeking each andevery one of us out, so that he can establish a relationship with you and me.

Wow!

Itmight be easy to think that God would only care about the “big picture”, youknow, things like forming the world, making sure that everything workedtogether well, etc.

Heis concerned about all that “big” stuff, true.

Buthe’s also concerned with the “little” stuff, that is, you and me.

Tosee how this is described, we need to return to John’s text….

“Thetrue light that enlightens every man (and woman) was coming into the world….Butto all who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God…”(John 1: 9, 12)

Noticethe concern with “every man (and woman)”.

Noticealso that the initiative is entirely God’s….the text says that the Word “gavepower” to become children of God.

TheGod who creates is also the God who seeks us out….“every man (and woman)”.

Bigpicture, little picture.

Itshould be obvious that each and every one of us is highly prized and highlyloved, for God seeks us out, shining the light of His love on us by the comingof Jesus Christ.

Perhapsby now, you’re wondering why the God who made everything that is would beconcerned with little-old-you-and-me. Athink a lot of people wonder why that is so. To some degree or another, that reality is wrapped up in the mystery ofwho God is.

Butthe undeniable fact is that God continues to care for everything He hascreated. Hebrews affirms this reality asit says that Jesus Christ “upholds the universe by his word of power.” So, He upholds us, as part of the creation.

Ifever we are tempted to be a bit depressed, the reality of God’s love, concernand care for us should lift us up out of the depths of our despair. For God loves us through His Son, Jesus Christ. He continues to love us, and nothing canseparate us from that love (see Romans 8: 39). That is one inescapable conclusion that we can draw from Jesus Christ’sdeath…that nothing, not even death, can separate us from God. Jesus Christ has conquered death, ourultimate enemy. His power to create isthe power over death, as well.

Praisedbe the God of all creation, whose eternal Word creates, enlightens and lovesus, both now in this mortal life, and in the life of the world to come.

AMEN.

[1] By contrast, “Low Christology” has to do withJesus Christ’s humanity. The Church’sunderstanding is that Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human. In the New Testament, the first three gospelaccounts (Matthew, Mark and Luke) emphasize Jesus Christ’s humanity, so theyexhibit a Low Christology”, while the Fourth Gospel exhibits a “HighChristology”, as does the Letter to the Hebrews.

The Eve of the Nativity, Year B

2011-12-24T21:00:00.000-06:00

Isaiah 9: 2 - 7; Psalm96; Titus 2:11 - 14; Luke2: 1 - 20

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Christmas Eve,December 24, 2011.

“BLESSINGS GIVEN, BLESSINGS RECEIVED”
(Homily text: Luke 2:1 – 20)

Webegin tonight with a bit of humor….

Apizza delivery man in Rome (Italy) was speeding through the city. By all contemporary Roman standards, thisguy’s driving was “off the charts!”

Ashe sped by, a Roman policeman saw him and gave chase. Eventually, he caught up with the guy, andonce he’d made his way over to the delivery man’s motorcycle, asked him why hewas going so fast.

Thedelivery man said, “Well, officer, you don’t understand. I have the exclusive contract to deliverpizza to the Holy Father at the Vatican. Now the Holy Father likes his pizza to be very hot and fresh, and so Idrive as fast as I can so that it will be hot.”

Thepoliceman thought to himself, “Of all the excuses I’ve ever heard in my career,this is certainly one of the most creative.” So the policeman said, “Well, your story doesn’t seem very believable,but just to be sure, I’m going to give you an escort to the Vatican. If you’re lying to me, you’re going to go tojail.”

So,two take off, the policeman clearing the way for the pizza and itsdeliverer. They reach the Vatican, andthe delivery man gets off his bike, walks up to the door of the Vatican, andknocks. The door opens, and the Cardinaltakes the pizza and disappears, leaving the delivery man standing at the door.

Thepoliceman is leaning on his bike, watching all this, and suddenly, a thoughtoccurs to him, “I’ll bet that, since I gave this guy an escort, that that pizzagot there in record time. And, I’ll betthat the pizza is really hot and really fresh. I’ll bet that the Holy Father really appreciated that, and I’ll bethe’ll be giving that delivery guy a big tip. Since I gave him an escort, I think I ought to have half of his tip.”

Sothe door opens again, the Cardinal greets the delivery man, and somethinghappens between the two that the policeman can’t quite see. The door closes, and the delivery man makeshis way back to his motorbike and to the policeman.

Ashe gets close enough, the policeman tells the delivery man about his plan,saying, “You know, I’ll bet that because I gave you an escort through town,that you got a really big tip from the Holy Father today. Now I think you ought to give me half of yourtip.”

Towhich the delivery man says, “no problem, here it is…”

Gesturingto the policeman, the deliveryman makes half of the sign of the cross.

Itis Christmas Eve. Would you like to havehalf of God’s blessing, or all of it?

That’sthe issue before us as we remember the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord andSavior, tonight.

For,you see, God showers all of His blessing on us by sending us His only Son,Jesus, to be born as a human being. Putanother way, we can say that “God got into the trenches with us” by enteringhuman history, by immersing Himself fully in our human condition.

ButI’m getting a little ahead of myself.

Weought to define what a blessing is, in the first place….

Inthe context of giving a blessing, we mean that God:

- Bestows Hisdivine favor on us. There’s nothing wecan do to earn that blessing.

- Gives us a free gift in the sending of His Son.

- Wants to give us the benefit of His presence with us.

ButGod’s blessings, like all blessings, are meant to be received. The circle remains broken if we don’t acceptHis blessings, like a Christmas gift which is offered, but refused. Christmasgifts are meant to be given and received.

Whenwe receive the blessing of Jesus Christ into our hearts, a connection isestablished between God and us. When wereceive that blessing, then the benefits of that blessing can be realized inour lives.

OnceGod’s blessing is accepted, then we can be a blessing to God, living our livesin accordance with His holy ways. Webecome a blessing to others as we give glory to God and seek to bring aboutGod’s kingdom in this world (as the Lord’s Prayer says, “Thy kingdom come onearth, as it is in heaven”).

Wecan learn a lot about God as we consider His blessing, seen in the person andwork of Jesus Christ. Here are some ofthose realities:

- God islove. Jesus Christ comes to show us howloving the Father is. The thrust ofJesus’ teachings, His miracles, and especially His death, show us the depth andthe strength of God’s love for each of us.

- God is a generous gift-giver. The work of Jesus in His earthly ministryoverflows with generosity, especially to those who could do nothing to earnGod’s favor….the sick were healed, the outcasts (prostitutes, tax collectorsand others) were restored to God’s favor, and those who were oppressed by sinand the attacks of the evil one were delivered and were protected.

- God is a risk-taker. The time in human history in which our Lord was born was a hard anddifficult time: life was short andunpredictable, the Roman occupation of the Holy Land was oppressive (some estimatesare that the rate of taxation of the people approached 66% of their income!),the spiritual leadership of the people was weak and self-serving, and thereligious practices of the day had become mere formalities. Knowing full well what reception Jesus wouldreceive, God sent Him anyway. We seethis most clearly in Jesus’ crucifixion. Would any of us send our child to do good in the world, knowing thatthey would be rejected and killed for their efforts?

- God often works in barely noticeable ways, and inunexpected ways. The circumstances ofJesus’ birth give us a clue to how His earthly ministry will unfold….Not manyknew about His birth, and when He was born, He was born to a mother who wasprobably of the lower, poorer class, in an out-of-the-way town in a backwaterpart of the Roman Empire.

Thequestion comes to us this Christmas: “Have we received God’s blessing?”

Youmay wonder, “How do I do that?”

Theanswer is quite simple, really…Our Lord Jesus Christ stands ready to enter ourhearts, but we have to open the door and invite him in. A verse from Revelation 3:20 says itbest: “Behold, I stand at the door andknock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him andeat with him, and he with me.”

It’sas simple as that. There’s no “right”formula for this prayer, no exact words which are necessary to establish therelationship, only the heart’s desire to come to know the Lord personally, andto cement the relationship with Him. Itis enough to either pray, think or say, “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, takeup your place there, that I may receive and return your blessing inthanksgiving for all you have done for me.”

Oncethat happens, God can offer us His full blessing. Our hearts and minds will overflow with God’slove and God’s goodness. And as ourhearts overflow, we will be able to pass along those blessings to others, andthe world will be a better place, one heart and one mind at a time. After all, it is in the human heart that muchof God’s activitity takes place….God working, one person, one heart, at a time.

Howabout you? Have you received thefullness of God’s blessing, offered in Jesus Christ?

Ipray that you have.

Ifyou haven’t, won’t you make an early New Year’s resolution and do so?

Ifyou have, but have allowed your heart to become distracted from the things ofGod, or have allowed your heart to cool toward the warmth of the love of God aswe know it in Jesus Christ, then won’t you confess your distraction or yourcoolness to Him and re-establish the relationship you once had?

Asyour priest, my main task in ministry is to assist you to establish a personalrelationship with God through Jesus Christ, and to do all that I can to helpkeep that relationship alive and glowing with the unmistakable love of God.

AMEN.

4 Advent, Year B

2011-12-18T10:30:00.000-06:00

II Samuel 7: 1 – 11, 16; Psalm89: 1 – 4, 19 - 26; Romans16: 25 - 27; Luke1: 26 - 38

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, December18, 2011.

“GOD’S IN-BREAKING REVELATION”

(Homily texts: Romans 16: 25 – 27 & Luke 1: 26 - 38)

            “Inthe sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee namedNazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house ofDavid; and the virgin’s name was Mary.” (Luke 1: 26)

            Isuppose that just about every one of us could recite that verse, eithercompletely accurately, or with a summation of the major facts that it conveys.

            Butwhen is the last time we’ve really thought about the facts of what happenedwhen Gabriel made his announcement to Mary? I say this because – oftentimes – I think that Holy Scripture tends to“flatten out” when we read it….that is to say, the events and the people who werecaught up in them tend to become like characters in a book, people who may havelived a long time ago in a faraway place.

Butput yourself in Mary’s position, and think about what happened to her whenGabriel appeared and told her about God’s plans for her life.

Ofcourse, the first thing we might notice about what Gabriel had to say is thatit changed Mary’s life forever! (And, ofcourse, Gabriel’s announcement also changed our life forever, as well.)

Nowperhaps we ought to look at this event more closely.

Inparticular, let’s recall that Gabriel was “sent from God”. That is to say, it is God who took theinitiative in sending Gabriel, just as it was God who took the initiative tosend Jesus Christ.

Let’sfocus in on God’s part in the drama, as God’s Son, Jesus Christ, the “Son ofthe Most High”, comes among us.

Theimportant thing to notice is that God has revealed Himself here. Without God’s self-revelation of Himself, weare left without a clear reference point in knowing what to believe about whoGod is, what God is like, and how we are to relate to Him.

Thatwas the problem with the pagan gods and goddesses of the Canaanite peoples wholived in the land before God’s people came into the Promised Land….they have amultitude of deities from which to choose, and so the spiritual game became oneof trying to either please one god or another, or to play one god off againstanother.

Whatwas true for human beings over 3,000 years ago remains true today: Without God’s own revelation of Himself, weare left to our own devices. Once we trustour own imaginations, we will create gods to suit our own liking.

Theevidence of that is easy to see today: We are living in a world which has become a pagan place by manystandards. There is no shortage of idolswhich can be set up to gather our attention and to demand our service. Wealth, status, possessions, money,relationships, all of these and many more become the deities which we createfor ourselves. These idols demand ourservice, our time, our resources, and our attention.

Theidols of today are far more sophisticated than the ancient Canaanite ones…theyare no longer made of a block of wood, a piece of stone, or pottery.

Butthey are no less dangerous. In fact, thelevel of danger to our souls rises in direct relationship to the attractivenessof the idol. For one thing, the moreattractive they seem to be, the less we can see the danger of serving them.

So,we need God’s self-revelation, that sort of revelation that St. Paul alludes toin our epistle reading for today. Let’snotice how he puts that summation as he says, “Now to him who is able tostrengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ,according to the revelation of themystery which was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made knownto all nations….” (italic mine, of course).

Paulaffirms that God has revealed Himself through the preaching of Jesus Christ,and that this is the revelation of the mystery of God, which is now disclosed,and is made known to all nations.

Tosum up then, let’s make some observations about God’s revelation of Himself:

1. God’s revelation is necessary in order toprevent idolatry.

2. Human beings are spiritual creatures. This is an aspect of what it means to be “createdin the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1: 26). Being created in the divine image andlikeness enables us to be spiritual beings, able to conceive of and relate toGod.

3. Without God’s revelation, human beings willcreate idols with which to fill the spiritual need which exists within us.

4. God’s revelation of Himself will always beconsistent with some aspect of an earlier revelation of Himself. For example, in today’s gospel text, Gabrieltells Mary that the son who will be born of her is to be named Jesus, a namewhich means “God saves”. So here,Gabriel affirms that God will save His people through the sending of the personof Jesus. Just as God had saved His peoplein ancient times in various ways (Noah’s passing through the flood, theIsraelites passing through the waters of the Red Sea, e.g.), God now saves Hispeople in the sending of Jesus.

5. God’s revelation prevents an amorphous“spirituality”. Many persons today claimto be “spiritual”, but not “religious”. There is a danger to be seen here: undefined spirituality can be just about anything, and can take on justabout any shape (which is usually defined by the individual him/herself). But religion demands that we “tie togetheragain” (the basic meaning of the word) to truths of God as we have receivedthem in the person, work, teachings, life, death, resurrection, ascension andcoming again of Jesus Christ, in the pages of Holy Scripture, and in thereceived teachings of the Church. Hereis “religion” the way it is supposed to be (and in its best sense): God-given and God-centered.

Burial of the Dead

2011-12-17T11:00:00.000-06:00

Isaiah61: 1 – 3; Psalm46; IJohn 3: 1 - 2; John11: 21 - 27

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Saturday, December 17, 2011, on the occasion of the burial of William“Bill” McIntire Schelosky.

“THEREFORE, WE WILL NOT FEAR”

(Homily texts: Psalm 46 & John 11: 21 – 27)

“Therefore,we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains betoppled into the depths of the sea.” That was verse two of Psalm 46, which we read together a few momentsago.

Psalm 46has been the source of comfort to many of God’s people down through the ages.

Itssentiment captures a key facet of life for Bill and Esther over these pastyears, as difficulties and challenges have mounted, and as answers to thosedifficulties and challenges have eluded the best efforts of medical science toprovide. That key reality for them bothis the lack of fear.

“Therefore,we will not fear!”

How can wesay that? How could Bill and Esther havebelieved that so firmly as they walked together through the hardships that cameBill’s way?

Here is theanswer: It is also found in Psalm 46(three times!): “The Lord of hosts iswith us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.”

That samesort of bewilderment (and perhaps fear) is found on our gospel reading fortoday. In it, we hear Martha say toJesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother (Lazarus) would not have died.”

We mightneed a little reminding about what’s going on here, as Martha converses withthe Lord…..Her brother had died four days earlier, and had been buried in atomb near their town of Bethany (which is about two miles southeast ofJerusalem).

Since hehad been dead for four days, he was really dead, for the Jews of that daybelieved that a person’s soul lingered around the body for three days, in hopesof being reunited with it.

“Lord, ifyou had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Perhaps wecould apply that same feeling to our situation with Bill today, saying to God, “Lord,if you had been here, Bill would not have died.” If only the answers and the treatments couldhave conquered the power of disease and death, Bill would not have died.

Notice thatMartha affirms that Jesus can do anything that He asks of the Father, as shesays, “And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

But yet,Martha can’t quite grasp that reality. You see, Jesus puts her to the test as He responds: “Your brother will rise again.”

She says toHim, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” This sounds a bit like “pie-in-the-sky”.

“Oh yes”,we might say, “we can affirm that reality for some day, far in the future, butnot now.”

Jesus’ nextline is important. He says, “I am the resurrectionand the life, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, andwhoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

(Hold ontoJesus’ statement about dying, living, and never dying. We’ll come back to that in just a moment.)

Marthastill can’t quite grasp this reality. She gives a puzzling answer: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who iscoming into the world.”

It is nowclear that the stage has been set for Jesus to prove that He has the power overdeath, and the power to give life. Heinstructs those who’ve been standing around to roll the stone away from thedoor to the tomb. Once it is out of theway, He says in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” And Lazarus came out, still wearing the linenwrappings that were put around the dead man’s body in those days.

Jesus’raising of Lazarus is the curtain-raiser on His own resurrection, which willtake place not many days after Lazarus’ resurrection. Again, Jesus proves that He has the powerover death, and the power to give life.

“He whobelieves in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives andbelieves in me shall never die,” Jesus said to Martha.

“Do youbelieve this?”

Bill andEsther believed this, and continue to believe it. Bill believes it fully, now that he has comeinto God’s presence through the power of Jesus Christ to conquer death and tocreate life. God’s promises, made toBill at the time of his baptism, are now reality.

With St.Paul, Bill can now say, “To be absent from the body is to be present with theLord.”

Let’s return for a moment to Jesus’ statement aboutdying, living, and never dying.

At firstglance, His statement doesn’t seem to make much sense. In fact, it’s a whole lot like a lot ofthings we read in John’s gospel account.

How can aperson die, then live, and never die again? Isn’t the reality of our lives that we die, and that’s the end of thestory?

For theChristian believer, the answer is “No!”

We love a Godwho has a wonderful habit of saving His people. We hear it in the words of Psalm 46: “Come now, and look upon the works of the Lord, what awesome things hehas done on earth.”

One of theawesome things God has done is to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us fromour sin, that sin that blocks our way to God.

That promise wasmade to Bill in his baptism.

And thoughBill received that promise when the water was poured over his head, it wouldtake a lifetime of experience for Bill to completely and fully claim thepromises of God. But fully claim them hedid. For Bill came to know that he is achild of God, dearly loved by God. Gradually,Bill came more and more into God’s lovingembrace, an embrace that is now complete, up-close-and-personal, in God’spresence.

Many timeswe know God’s saving power as we experience difficulties. Bill certainly had his share of those, didn’the? And oftentimes we know that God isnot only near to us, but present in our troubles, as we look back over our shouldersto see His presence and power in hindsight. (Perhaps your life experience is just that way….I know that mine hasbeen.)

As Godreaches out to us in the person, work, teachings, death and resurrection ofJesus Christ, we are called to reach out to Him in response. God offers us all of the richness and theblessings of new life in Christ, but we need to reach out in response to claimthose blessings and that richness.

We can bethankful that Bill did that reaching out to God, responding to God’s love andto God’s power to save.

“Therefore,we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains betoppled into the depths of the sea.”

For Billcan say, along with believers down through the ages, that “The Lord of Hosts iswith us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.”

Thanks beto God. AMEN.

3 Advent, Year B

2011-12-11T10:30:00.000-06:00

Isaiah 61:1–4, 8-11; Psalm126; IThessalonians 5:16-24; John1:6–8, 19-28

A homily by Fr.Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, December11, 2011.

“GAUDETE SUNDAY – A REFLECTION”
(Homily texts: Isaiah 61: 1 – 4, 8 – 11, I Thessalonians 5:16 – 24 & John 1: 6 – 8,19 - 28)

Today, the Third Sunday of Advent,is generally known in churches which follow the liturgical tradition as Gaudete Sunday. The name comes from the first word of thetraditional Introit for this day, as we hear it in Latin. The text begins:

Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete.

InEnglish, the Latin reads:

Rejoicein the Lord always, again I say, rejoice.

Youmay recognize that these are words which come to us from St. Paul, as he writesto the early Christians in Philippians 4: 4ff. (Notice how our reading from I Thessalonians 5: 16 - 17 captures much ofthe same sense: “Rejoice always, prayconstantly.”)

So,gaudete means “rejoice”!

Atthis point, you may be searching your liturgical memory to recall that Adventis traditionally a time of penitence, a time for soul-searching, a time ofpreparation for the Lord’s coming to us in His birth at Bethlehem, and a timefor preparing for His final coming again at the end of time.

This time of preparation issignified by the liturgical color violet (or in old English usage, dark blue,which is our practice here at Trinity). May I ask you to hold that thought about preparation/penitence for amoment? We’ll come back to that issueshortly.

Ithink this would be an excellent occasion point out the overall pattern of theflow of the liturgical colors as they unfold throughout the year. The general pattern is:

Violet(dark blue) – White – Green

Eachof these colors convey a meaning, which is:

Violet(dark blue) Penitence/preparation

White Celebration

Green Growth in the faithwhich is the product of our

preparation and subsequent celebration

Appliedto the pattern of violet (dark blue) – white – green, the pattern lays out likethis:

Advent Violet (dark blue)

Christmas White

                        Epiphany                      Green

                        Lent                             Violet

                        Easter                           White

                        Pentecost                     Green

Now,let’s return to the business of penitence and preparation, and lay theseconcerns alongside the idea of being able to rejoice during such a period asAdvent.

Howcan we rejoice if we are examining our consciences, our hearts, and our dailylives? How do these two concepts gotogether. How do they manage to livetogether?

Ithink the answer lies in God’s goodness and God’s graciousness.

Simplyput, we serve and love a holy God, a God who demands holiness from His peoplein every aspect of their daily activities, thoughts and contemplations.

Ifwe are honest about it, even the briefest reflection will convince us that wefall far short of God’s standards of holiness. As we say in our General Confession, “We acknowledge and bewail ourmanifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously havecommitted, by thought, word and deed, against thy divine Majesty….”[1]

Godwould be well within His rights to condemn us all, and to cast us aside and outof His presence forever, wouldn’t he?

Icertainly know that the pattern of my life at certain times would confirm thatGod ought send me away, to allow eternal separation from Him to be my fate.

ButI also know that the holy God whom we worship and adore is a compassionate,merciful and loving God, a God who is more ready hear our prayers than we are topray, a God who is more ready to give than we either desire or deserve (as theCollect for Proper 22 says so well).[2]

Andso, remorse over our sinful state can be combined with rejoicing. It is possible for the two concepts to existtogether, side-by-side, but only if penitence precedes rejoicing.

Infact, remorse sets the stage for rejoicing, for it is our own honesty beforeGod which allows that same God to shower us with His forgiveness. The two go together….they are inseparable,one from the other. Remorse over oursins and confession of them allows God to bless us with His forgiveness.

Wewould do well to turn to our readings for today, to see this process at work:

InIsaiah, chapter 61, we read this: “TheSpirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring goodtidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, toproclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those whoare bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor….”

Hereare words which convey God’s graciousness, God’s acting to free His people frombondage. They inspire in God’s people inevery age a cause for hope, a cause for rejoicing.

Similarly,our gospel reading from the Fourth Gospel recounts John the baptizer’s message….Thethrust of John’s ministry was to “bear witness to the light” as the writer ofthe gospel puts it. That light is JesusChrist, the one who is the Christ, God’s anointed one. John captures the liberation that JesusChrist brings as he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin ofthe world.” (John 1: 29)

Wecan claim God’s forgiveness, made known in the person and work of our LordJesus Christ, by confessing our sins and by claiming God’s forgiveness.

Sotoday, we live out the reality of penitence and rejoicing, side-by-side, in thetraditional liturgical color which is appropriate for this day: rose.

Thisidea might require some explanation: Thecolor rose is a combination of red and blue.

Liturgically,we’ve already made the observation that (dark) blue is a color which can beused for penitential seasons of preparation, like Advent (or Lent, when violetis more appropriate).

Now,let’s recall what we use the color red for, liturgically…that is the colorwhich comes to us on the great Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit camedown on the assembled believers, lighting above the heads of each one as flamesof fire (see Acts 2: 1 – 4). On theFeast of Pentecost, bright red is used.

Weare safe in making a connection between the action of the Holy Spirit and thecolor red. (It’s also worth noting thatbright red is the appropriate color for services of ordination, at which timethe Holy Spirit’s presence and power are invoked in the singing of the ancient hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus.)

Sotoday, we wear rose-colored vestments, combining the dark blue of penitencewith the simultaneous presence of the power of the Holy Spirit to convict us ofsin and to liberate us from it.

Asour Collect for this Sunday says, “Stir up thy power, O Lord, and with greatmight come among us, and because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let theybountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us….”

Mayit ever be so.

AMEN.

[1] Bookof Common Prayer, 1979, page 331

[2] BCP, page 182

2 Advent, Year B

2011-12-04T10:30:00.000-06:00

Isaiah 40: 1 - 11; Psalm85: 1 – 2, 8 - 13; IIPeter 3: 8 – 15a; Mark1: 1 – 8

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, December4, 2011.

“THE WAY HOME”

Our Collectfor this, the Second Sunday of Advent, says:

MercifulGod, who sent thy messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare theway for our salvation; Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake oursins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; wholiveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.Amen.

The Collectfor today offers a blueprint for the way home to God, out of exile, bondage andestrangement, into a close relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

Using thepattern of the Collect, what follows this morning is a reflection on theprocess of coming home to God, out of a faraway place. This reflection will focus on Isaiah’sprophecy as it was realized when God’s chosen people came out of exile inBabylon, and on John the baptizer’s call to repentance as he baptized in theJordan River.

So, we willbegin by asking a question: Do you knowthe way home?

Perhapsmost of us have had the experience of being away from home, or perhaps haveeven been lost for a time.

If you’vehad that experience, do you remember how if felt to be away from home,especially if you knew you either couldn’t find your way, or knew that it wouldbe a long time before you could get home?

God’speople in ancient times must surely have known these feelings. As I make that statement, I have in mind theperiod of the captivity in Babylon, which lasted from 586 BC to 536 BC. Much of the population around Jerusalem andJudea was deported when the Babylonians conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judahin 586.

So perhaps Isaiah’s words rang in their ears,telling them that it was time for them to go home as they learned that theywere to be free to leave: “In thewilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highwayfor our God. Every valley shall belifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low, the uneven ground shallbecome level, and the rough places a plain.”

Now holdthat image of Isaiah’s prophecy, along with the return of God’s people toJerusalem and to Judah, in your mind for a moment, and let’s turn our attentionto notice some parallels which exist between our Isaiah reading and our gospeltext from Mark, chapter one.

There is aprogression which is found in each passage. Here it is:

1. God’s people are in bondage, enslaved becauseof the sin of idolatry.

2. A prophet’s voice announces a way to returnhome to God.

3. The return to God involves a wilderness(desert) journey.

4. God’s forgiveness allows the exiles to returnhome to Him.

5. God’s power makes possible the reunificationwith Him.

Now let’ssee how this progression works itself out in each case.

We beginwith Isaiah’s prophecy, and its fulfillment when God’s people made their returnfrom Babylon in 536 BC.

1. Sin andidolatry: Eventually, God’s peoplecame to see that the reason for their defeat and subsequent deportation toBabylon was due to their idolatry. Forcenturies, worship of the one, true God had been intermingled with pagan idolworship. Many of the pagan gods thatfound their way into worship (even in the temple in Jerusalem) were actuallyCanaanite gods, like Dagon or the Asherah poles, or Molech. It took the deportation to Babylon to breakGod’s people of the habit of worshipping other gods, alongside (or in place of)the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses and Elijah. Never again would they intermingle the two,once they were back in the Promised Land.

2. Theprophet’s announcement: Isaiah’sprophecy comes true as the Persian king Cyrus allows the people to return toJerusalem and Judah.

3. Thewilderness: The people would have totravel westward through the wilderness to return home.

4. God’sforgiveness: The announcement thatpermission had been granted to return home signaled the beginning of God’sforgiveness. The time of punishment wasover. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, andcry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned,” Isaiahhad said.

5. God’spower: The return home is madepossible by the power of God. Furthermore, it is God who will make possible the reunification of thepeople with their God. Isaiah had said,“He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms,he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

Now, let’sexamine the situation as we find it during the time that John the baptizer wasbaptizing in the Jordan River, in the first century. We are able to apply the same five categoriesto the contemporary situation he faced.

1. Sin andidolatry: Though the people are notenslaved by the sin of worshipping Canaanite gods, or the gods of the Romans,who had conquered the Holy Land, they are guilty of idolatry in anothersense: They have made the law of Mosesinto an idol. The law’s originalpurpose, to provide a way for God’s people to walk with the Lord in holinessand righteousness, had instead become a legalistic code of conduct. Attention was focused so squarely on what aperson could or couldn’t do in any given situation, that oftentimes the lawitself took the place that God alone should occupy. Sin was defined as any transgression of theprovisions of the law as it was applied to each and every possible situation aperson could encounter. Penance for sinbecame somewhat legalistic, as well, for a person could go through the outwardmotions and consider themselves forgiven without making the inner change ofheart that true forgiveness entails.

2. Theprophet’s announcement: John thebaptizer calls the people to repentance. Notice that the same words which we have already heard in Isaiah arerepeated here.

3. Thewilderness: Mark tells us thatpeople came from Jerusalem and the surrounding area of Judea to the wilderness towash away their sins.

4. God’sforgiveness: As people confess theirsins and enter the waters of the Jordan, their sins are forgiven them.

5. God’spower: If John’s baptism was for theforgiveness of sins, then the baptism of Jesus involves the receiving of powerto bring others into unity with God. Atfirst glance, my statement probably doesn’t make sense, so I’ll attempt toclarify: Notice that John says that hisbaptism was with water (and for the forgiveness of sins, as we’ve noted amoment ago), but that Jesus will “baptize with the Holy Spirit.” If we recall when the Holy Spirit was given,and what happened as a result of the coming of the Spirit, then I think we canmake the connection….the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, and the Spirit’sindwelling made possible the spread of the Good News, news that God had made itpossible for all people to come into fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.

The returnhome for God’s people in the sixth century BC was a physical, geographicalevent which carried with it the importance of returning to the Promised Land,and to Jerusalem, that place where God dwelt.

The returnhome for those who had undergone John’s baptism, and Jesus’ baptismsubsequently, was a return home spiritually. As a spiritual event, it was therefore available to all peopleeverywhere. The human heart would be theplace where God dwells.

How doesthis apply to us?

Do weundergo a similar return home somehow?

I think theanswer is “yes”.

We remainquite prone to the sin of idolatry. Thisis to speak honestly and frankly. Idolsare no longer wood, stone or ceramic, like they were in ancient times. In our day, idols might consist of a certainprized possession, or an idea, or money, or status.

Of anyidol, which is essentially anything that takes the rightful place that Godalone ought to occupy, we have the need to repent.

Recall thewords of the Collect for today, as it says, “Give us grace to heed their (theprophets) warnings and forsake our sins.”

Repentancewill involve meeting God in the wilderness places, the lonely places, of ourlives. God is often found in thoseplaces where the distractions are few and the relating is between God and us,alone.

But genuineconfession is followed by genuine forgiveness. Recall the words of Psalm 103: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he (God) put our sins away from us.”

Forgivenessis followed by the restoration of fellowship with God, so that the power of Godto reconcile and to build anew is known in our lives.

Do you knowthe way home?

Homily given at an ordination

2011-11-30T19:00:00.000-06:00

Deuteronomy30: 11 - 14; Psalm19: 7 - 14; Romans10: 8b - 18; Matthew4: 18 - 22

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Wednesday,November 30, 2011, on the occasion of the ordination ofChaplain David William Peters to the Sacred Order of Deacons.

“FOLLOW ME!”

(Homily text: Matthew 4: 18 - 22)

(Introductoryremarks: It is a great honor to be thepreacher on this wonderful occasion, a day that many who are present heretonight have longed for and have waited for for a very long time now. Our paths to ministry, Chaplain David’s andmine, have involved very similar routes, for each of us began our journeys inthe evangelical/fundamental part of the body of Christ, but we each found ourway to the wonderful riches of the Episcopal Church and to the Anglican family. Each of us have served/are serving in the U.S. Army, and that service took us to Washington, D. C. and to Christ Church,Georgetown, whose Rector, Fr. Stuart Kenworthy (who is here tonight), was aguide along the way for us both. Andthen, those respective paths led to the Diocese of Springfield, and to ordainedministry within this Diocese.)

“Follow me,and I will make you fish for people,” the Lord said to Andrew and to his betterknown brother, Simon Peter.

Immediately,they left their nets and followed him.

On that dayalong the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus’ recruiting station set up shop,and that day He got four new recruits to join him in service to Him and to God.

It isinteresting to read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ call to these four, for therewere no advertising banners which read, “Join up today, learn a new skill,travel to new and exciting places, meet new and interesting people.”

Maybe it’sa good thing that none of that was passed before their eyes.

Maybe it’sjust as well that Jesus didn’t tell them about the rough road that would lieahead, for that road led to a cross for these two brothers….Tradition tells usthat Simon Peter was crucified upside down, while Andrew was crucified on an Xshaped cross (known as St. Andrew’s Cross to this day) in Greece.

Consideringthe hardships that they would face once their three years of basic trainingwere over, perhaps it was best that they simply dropped their nets and walkedaway from their family business to follow this compelling, charismatic personcalled Jesus, no questions asked.

Anytimesomeone steps forward to take the oath of enlistment, it’s probably best not tothink too much about the road ahead, and what difficulties, trials and dangersmight lie in the pathway.

Life as aninfantryman involves a lot of time outside, spent in the cold, the heat, themud, the insects, the creepy-crawlies, and that sort of thing. Of course, the manual which described thequalifications for being an infantryman didn’t say a word about those things.

Life as adisciple of Jesus involves self denial, the willingness to suffer the loss ofall things (Simon and Andrew – along with the other disciples – gave upeverything to follow the Lord), to be willing to suffer rejection, deprivation,physical hardships, and yes, even death.

Of course,new recruits in the army have to pass certain standards in order to get intothe service in the first place. I recallvividly many years ago when I was an infantryman reading the standards that aperson had to meet in order to serve as an infantryman. The standards had the usual stuff inthem: the ability to carry so manypounds, flexibility enough to surmount obstacles, 20/40 vision in one eye(corrected)……20/40 vision in one eye, corrected? That was enough toqualify? I remember asking myself,“Who’d want to serve alongside a guy who could only see (sort of) out of oneeye?”

Maybe Jesusknew all about the qualifications of these two brothers, Simon and Andrew, asHe asked them follow along. If He didn’tperceive their strengths and weaknesses at the beginning, it probably didn’ttake long to find them out.

For onething, Simon Peter’s spiritual vision wasn’t too good, for he would seem toreally “get it” at one moment, only to turn around and be blind in the next.

And perhapsthe Lord noticed that Simon seemed to have a much more passionate dispositionthan his brother, Andrew. At leastthat’s the sense I get from the portrait we have in Holy Scripture of Andrew.

But we doget the sense that Andrew had a gift for bringing people together, and aspecial gift for bringing people to God….the Fourth Gospel, for example, tellsus that Andrew was the one who told his brother that “We have found the Messiah(which means Christ).” (John 1: 41). Itwas Andrew who brought the boy with the five loaves and two fish to the Lord atthe feeding of the 5,000 (John 6: 8). And it was Andrew, along with Philip, who brought some Greeks to seeJesus (John 12: 22).

Andrew andthe others made it through their basic training, sitting at the Lord’s feet,hearing Him teach and preach, watching Him perform miracles, setting thePharisees and the keepers of the law right. No one failed to make it through – except for Judas, that is.

And thencame the time for these disciples to be promoted to be apostles, and to be sentout to the various places they were to serve, carrying the good news withthem. We know that they were sent out tomake disciples of all nations. St.Andrew, tradition tells us, went as far as Kiev in the Ukraine….That’s a longway from the Holy Land and the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

As we saida moment ago, St. Andrew was crucified. Tradition tells us that he lived for two days, tied to his X shapedcross, using those last breaths to continue to preach the gospel, until hislast breath came. Andrew was faithful,right to the end.

The saintswe honor on days of ordination carry unique meaning for us, for their patternof life inspires and shapes the ministries that we undertake at ordination.

St. Andrewprovides a rich example for you today, Chaplain Dave, on the occasion of yourordination as a Deacon. Andrew’s giftfor bringing people together is an essential gift that all soldiers of Christmust have, according to the gifts that we individually possess. Andrew’s gift for persevering throughdangers, difficulties and tribulations also inspires us to persevere, and toconquer, as we follow Jesus and take up our cross to follow Him.

So, as youare promoted this night, it’s important to also remember that you are beingdemoted at the same time. As you advancein rank within the body of Christ, the commitment to be the servant of God andof God’s people also deepens correspondingly.

As aDeacon, your concern will be for the helpless of the world, for making theneeds of the world known to the Church, and to serve all people, particularlythe poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely. These added responsibilities will become a permanent part of theministry that is entrusted to you tonight, and these responsibilities willcontinue – God willing - once you are ordained as Priest

Thisservant/leader model is Jesus’ example, to be sure, and it is Andrew’s as well.

Many ofthose who have served to bring you to this occasion have taken up the role thatAndrew filled, for they have had a part in bringing you to this point. Quite a few are present this night to witnessthis event. Our prayer would be that theHoly Spirit would enable and strengthen you to carry out these new duties asyou look to Jesus for your example and strength, inspired by the life, work andwitness of that faithful apostle, Andrew, as well.

AMEN.

1 Advent, Year B

2011-11-27T10:30:00.000-06:00

Isaiah64:1-9; Psalm80:1–7, 16-18; ICorinthians 1:3-9; Mark13:24-37

A homily by Fr.Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, November27, 2011.

“HURRY UP AND WAIT”

(Homily text: Mark 13: 24 - 37)

“Hurry upand wait.”

No doubt,if you’ve spent time in the military, you’ve heard this phrase, and haveprobably used it yourself.

Use of thephrase isn’t limited to veterans, however….I’ve often heard it used innon-military settings, as well.

Waiting,and hurrying to get to the place of waiting, are a fact of life….we wait inlines here and there quite frequently, don’t we? And sometimes, we hurry to get to the placewhere we will wait for awhile.

The twoideas: hurrying and waiting, cometogether in this season of Advent.

Hurryingimplies being busy doing something (in the military, it usually involvedgetting ready to do something), while waiting carries with it the sense thatsomeone else is in charge (otherwise, we wouldn’t be waiting, if we’d had ourown way, would we?).

In thisholy season of preparation, a season in which we prepare to receive JesusChrist again at the great Feast of the Nativity (Christmas), we are to be busy,getting our hearts and our minds in a condition so that He might take upresidence and be born in our hearts anew.

We are alsoto be busy, getting ready for the Lord’s eventual return at the close of theage. It is that time when He will comein judgment.

These twothemes: Preparing for the Lord JesusChrist’s first coming at Christmas, and preparing for His eventual coming atthe close of the age, constitute the two great themes of the Advent season.

Havingmentioned the word “judgment”, we ought to pause here for a moment and have alook at our gospel text for today, from Mark, chapter thirteen.

Notice theforeboding language: “But in those days,after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not giveits light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in theheavens will be shaken….”

Here, Jesususes traditional language which carries with it a clear sense of God’sjudgment. Darkened skies, the light ofthe sun and of the moon failing, these things (and others) are meant to set upin the listeners’ minds the fact that God is coming to judge.

Jesus’language is drawn from a well-established tradition, and uses much the samelanguage that the ancient prophets used to describe God’s coming judgment. (We can see the same sort of language in Joel2: 15, 2:31, and 3:15, for example.)

If God isbringing His judgment, His coming judgment, in the return of Christ, who isKing of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17: 14 and 19:16), then what are weto be doing as we wait for that day to come?

Christiansdown through the ages have come to different conclusions as they await thatday. Some approaches among the family ofGod have included:

Watching the skies and waiting: From the earliest days of Christianity, thisapproach has been present. It was asignificant problem for the early Christians in Thessolonika, so much so thatSt. Paul had to admonish those who were sitting around, waiting for the Lord toreturn. He told them bluntly to not beidle, saying “For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If anyone will not work, let him noteat. For we hear that some of you areliving in idleness, more busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in theLord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their ownliving.” (II Thessalonians 3: 10 – 12) So some have wished that day would come bysitting and waiting for it to happen, doing little (or nothing) else in themeantime. Alas, as we look around thebody of Christ today, we can see evidence that some believers are taking thesame path, for they seem to focus quite heavily on the coming age, to theexclusion of the present time in which we live.

Being about the business of ministry: Other Christians have tended to focus almostexclusively on the work that God would have us do in the time and place inwhich we live. Social outreachministries take a prominent place in these Christians’ lives and work. As important and vital as such ministriesare, the danger is that, oftentimes, such a focus can tend to push an awarenessof the coming day of judgment toward the back of our minds. In extreme cases, the reality of the comingjudgment is dismissed as an ancient belief practice that is couched intraditional language, language that was common in ancient times. Such a view tends to see the language that weencounter in today’s gospel text primarily in figurative terms.

Holding the two realities in tension: A third way of approaching the business ofbeing ready for the Lord’s eventual return is to hold that day in view at alltimes, while being about the business that God has set before us in the day inwhich we live, and in the settings where we find ourselves. The two realities thus come together, and areheld in tension. Such an approach tendsto see that both realities are not mutually exclusive concerns, that the needfor watching and waiting and forproductive uses of our time are to be held in truth alongside one another.

How thenmight we hold the two realities in tension with one another, living as maturebelievers in Christ?

I think theword “mature” is to be a key aspect of our approach.

For us tocome to a mature faith in Christ, we must recognize that it is the Lord’s firstcoming does two things for us:

His first coming brings us into a rightrelationship with God. God’s love isseen in the coming of Jesus Christ. Christcame so that His death on the cross might pay the penalty for our sins. We are able to become righteous in the sightof God, as a result.
Jesus’ first coming presents us with theblueprint for living a life that is pleasing to God. Consider the pattern of life that He providesas we think about the things He did in His earthly ministry:

Hiscare for the poor, the downtrodden, the sick, the lonely, the destitute,
Histeachings, which cast light on God the Father’s nature and His will forus,
His miracles, which demonstrate that God’s very presence was mademanifest in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Truly, as He said in John 14: 9b, “He who hasseen me has seen the Father.”

Put anotherway then, we can say that Jesus’ first coming allows us to prepare for Hissecond coming, and for the coming judgment.

But inbetween that first and the second one, God’s judgment comes to us, day-by-day,situation-by-situation, as we either choose to live by Jesus’ example, ornot. And as we do so, we are alreadyunder judgment. In this sense then, timecollapses as God’s eternal time blurs the lines of time as we know it.

So, let us“hurry up” and be concerned with the work God would have us to do in Christ’sname, while we wait for His coming in power and great glory.

AMEN.

Last Sunday after Pentecost Year A

2011-11-20T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 26 -- Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24; Psalm100; Ephesians1:15–23; Matthew25:31–46

A homily by Fr.Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois onSunday, November 20, 2011.

"THE ‘BIG PICTURE’ MEETS THE ‘LITTLE PICTURE'”

“Lord, whendid we see thee hungry?”

A week agoFriday, I took part in our Sr. High youth retreat, called “Happening”, whichwas held at the Cathedral in Springfield. As is normal for these weekends, the adultand teen staff arrive early, before the candidates who will go through theweekend.

Many of ushad arrived, and were getting organized for the weekend’s activities, whenthere was a knock on the door of the Parish House. Someone answered the door, and outside stooda family: a dad, a mom, and two younggirls, who looked to be less than six years old. They said they walked over from their home,and that they had nothing to eat. Theysaid they’d heard that they could get some food at the Cathedral.

We felthelpless. We were all from other places,and didn’t know what resources there were in Springfield to help this family.

Out of ourconfused state, someone had the presence of mind to ask the family to comeinside, out of the cold. Once inside,the mother said that she was pregnant, and that she was on medication. She heldup an IV tube that she said she needed for medication she was taking.

Not longafterward, someone who was a member of the Cathedral came by. He said he was familiar with the area, andcould find some way to help. We assuredthe family that, one way or another, we would find a way to help them.

In the weekand a half since then, I have thought about that family quite a bit. I wondered what other needs they had? Were their young daughters going to schoolsomewhere? Did they have heat in theirhome? Why were they without food? Did the husband lose his job, or did someother catastrophic event come into their lives.

Lots ofprayer has also taken place since that encounter, as well.

And thewords of today’s gospel have passed through my mind and heart quite a bit aswell: “As you have done it to the leastof these my brethren, you did it to me.”

In today’sgospel, Jesus concludes a series of teachings, all of which have to do with“last things”. “When the Son of Mancomes in his glory,” we hear Him say.

These “lastthings”, that glorious time when God’s purposes and plans will be fully known,are never far from Matthew’s mind as he records Jesus’ teachings, His miracles,and His victory over death.

The imagethat Jesus paints for us is a cosmic one…it is the picture of Jesus, seated asking on His throne, judging the nations. It is the image that our reading from Ephesians also paints, that of thecosmic Christ, reigning with power and great glory.

But let’sreturn to Matthew for a moment.

Asimportant as it is to remember that Matthew never seems to entirely lose sightof the “big picture”, he never loses sight of the everyday, thehere-and-the-now, either. The mundane isnever far from Matthew’s mind as he records Jesus’ teachings and His holylife. They are present in Matthew’srecord of Jesus, who is “God with us” (that is, Emmanuel), because a practicalconcern for everyday conduct was never far from Jesus’ mind.

You see,the two are present in Matthew’s account in a way that is unique. The “big picture” of God’s plan intersectswith the “little picture” of daily living that make up everyday living.

Whathappens in the everyday carries with it implications for eternity.

Ourrelationship with God is dependent upon our conduct in daily life. That is Matthew’s unique focus.

We walkwith God, day-by-day.

And as wedo, God is watching, taking stock of our actions, and our motivations foracting (the Lord expounds on the connection between outer actions and innermotivations in His Sermon on the Mount – see Matthew, chapters five to seven).

As we cometo the aid of those in need, visiting those in prison, clothing those who needcovering, feeding those – like the family we encountered a week ago – who needfood, we are affirming our connectedness in Christ.

For it isthe Lord who said, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name,there am I in the midst of you.” (Matthew 18:20). As we supportothers in need, we are serving not only them, but Christ…. “As you did it tothe least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

To someears, this understanding of relating to God might seem strange. After all, isn’t the business of being saveda matter of God’s grace, first of all, and then, our response, made in faith,second of all?

Isn’t thebusiness of being saved most concretely stated in John 3:16? Hear those words again: “For God so loved the world that he gave hisonly begotten Son, to the end that all who believe in him should not perish,but have everlasting life.”

Yes, God’sinitiative of grace, and our response in faith, makes it possible for us tocome into a close and personal relationship with God. Certainly that is the understanding that wecan glean from the Fourth Gospel.

But thenwhat?

Whathappens after we receive God’s grace and come to believe in Jesus Christ’ssaving power, becoming sons and daughters of God?

How do welive our lives after that event takes place?

That’s wereMatthew’s gospel provides the blueprint….Maybe we could call Matthew’s gospelaccount a “recipe for daily living”, for that is where much of its focus lies.

To comprehendthe fullness of the gospel in its entirety, no one approach can do justice toall the implications of the coming of Jesus Christ.

We relateto God through the saving power of Jesus Christ, which we receive by faith (seeJohn 3:16, quoted above). We also relateto God by following Jesus’ teachings. The two ways of relating to God are not mutually exclusive, but arenecessary to fully understand the ways that we relate to Him.

Concentratingon God’s grace and our response of faith alone won’t capture the importance ofour daily conduct. For our deeds and notso much our words will point the way to Christ. St. Francis of Assisisaid it well: “Preach the gospel, ifnecessary, use words.”

Today’sgospel text reminds us of the “big picture”, namely that Christ will come again(a truth we affirm each Sunday as we recite the Nicene Creed). This is, of course, an Advent theme, aswell…for the season of Advent asks us to prepare for Christ’s first coming (Hisbirth in Bethlehem),and to prepare for His second coming at the end of time. (So, in this sense, the Church Year endswhere it begins, by focusing on Christ’s coming again.)

Today’sgospel text also reminds us that our daily conduct is an outward manifestationof the inner disposition of our hearts, hearts that have turned to God throughfaith in Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, which brings us into right relationshipwith God the Father.

St. Francis’ words carry with them an immense truth: “Preach the gospel, if necessary, use words.”

AMEN.

22 Pentecost, Year A

2011-11-13T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 28 -- Judges 4:1-7; Psalm 123; I Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30

A homily by Fr.Gene Tucker, given at TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, November 13, 2011, byMr. Barney Bruce, Licensed Lay Worship Leader.

“FUND MANAGERS”
(Homily texts: I Thessalonians 5: 1 – 12 and Matthew 25: 14– 30)

In everyage and in every time, managers of money are important people. We trust them to look after the money we’veput into their hands to manage properly. And every so often, we ask them for an accounting of how well they aredoing.

This wastrue in the first century, and it is true in the twenty first century.

Managementof what has been placed into our hands is the central theme of Jesus’ parableabout the Talents, heard this morning.

But it isalso about the reckoning each one of us will have to give to God for ourmanagement of what’s been given to us.

Sooner orlater, we will be called to account for what we’ve done, and how well we’ve doneit. That sense is never very far awayfrom Matthew’s mind as he writes down what Jesus said and did. Page after page in Matthew’s gospel account,the final end of all things pops up, again and again.

In fact,today’s gospel reading allows us to hear the middle of three parables, all ofwhich have to do with the final judgment, when God will call all of us toaccount.

Our Lordprovokes us to consider just how important it is for us to use what God hasgiven us.

We are touse it wisely.

We are touse it by taking risks, according to our individual ability.

We are togo against the conventional wisdom, which would encourage us to “play it safe”with what God has given.

But I amgetting a little ahead of myself. Weshould turn to the text and make a few comments about it. Then, we can make some applications to ourown lives.

As we lookat the text, it’s important to notice two things about the Master’s actions inplacing the talents in the hands of his servants:

1. He gives each servant an amount, “accordingto their ability”.

2. Notice that Jesus doesn’t tell us what theMaster said to each servant. He doesn’ttell us if the Master told each servant that the amount he was being given wasin accordance with his ability. We are leftto wonder exactly how the transfer took place. I think that’s important for our own reflection.

(Jesus is awonderful storyteller. The details ofeach parable are important to notice as we read the text.)

The nextthing we ought to notice is the use of the word “talent”. In biblical times, a talent was a large sumof money. In today’s language, we mightuse the phrase “a million dollars”. Butthe word “talent” eventually came to mean our abilities and gifts. The change in meaning came about because ofthe use of the biblical word “talent” in old English translations. Theconnection between its use in this parable and its current meaning isdirect. The dictionary confirms theconnection between the two meanings.

Now, wecome to the behavior of the servant who got one talent.

Thatservant followed the conventional wisdom of the first century in burying themoney. In biblical times, sourcesoutside the Bible tell us, the most secure way to hold onto something was tobury it. If it was stolen later on, thenthe individual wasn’t responsible for its loss. (If the person hid the money in a cloth, and it was stolen, then theywere responsible.)

Now themethod of securing the money by burying it seems strange to us, I suspect. After all, what if someone saw the servantbury the money, or came along shortly afterward and saw signs of digging, andstole the buried treasure?

Butremember that this is an age in which there were no bankers (the RevisedStandard Version’s translation is less-than-desirable here, for the bettertranslation is “moneychangers”), and no Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC).

Furthermore,locks were unknown, and so securing something meant posting a guard over it, sono one would come along and steal it. Atleast if the treasure was buried somewhere, and no one else knew the location,it was more secure than it would be any other way, short of guarding it.

Jesus’point is that the third servant followed the conventional wisdom of the day,and refused to take risks. That much ofJesus’ meaning seems clear.

Let’s applythe lessons from Jesus’ parable to our situation today.

We havebeen given talents (here the various meanings of the word apply: money, gifts and abilities) to manage. This homily could easily turn into astewardship sermon, since we are in the midst of our annual campaign to planfor the use of our gifts, abilities and money for the coming year.

Managementof those talents is going to involve risk. We are going to need to figure out how to best use what’s been put intoour hands. Notice that the Master’sinstructions to the servants are virtually non-existent. We made a remark about that a minuteago. That detail in Jesus’ story isimportant, it seems to me.

In essence,what God is saying to us is this: “Here,take care of this while I’m away.” Butthen, I think, He expects us to figure out what is best to do. In that sense, we are using our gifts and abilities, our talents, to figure out the best course of action.

And, Ithink, it’s important to remember that God will give us our talents in directmeasure to our ability to handle those talents. Notice that Jesus says that each servant was given an amount “to eachaccording to his ability”. I don’t getthe sense that God will hold us accountable for things that are beyond ourabilities. But, it will involve risk, thatmuch is sure!

Finally, anaccounting is to be made. In everydaylife today, we hold our fund managers accountable at regular intervals,reviewing the accounts to see how well they are being managed.

In God’saccounting, we are being held accountable for our use of our gifts, abilitiesand talents day-by-day.

It would begood for us to ask ourselves, “How well am I doing? Am I a good and faithful servant, who hasbeen faithful in a little?”

For Godholds us accountable. His accountingtakes place in the here-and-now, and it will take place at the end of time, aswell.

AMEN.

All Saints' Sunday, Year A

2011-11-06T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 26 -- Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1–10, 22; I John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, November 6, 2011.

“SAINTS”

Are you asaint?

Do you knowany living saints?

What is asaint, anyway?

Today isAll Saints’ Sunday. It is the only feastin the Church Year which may be moved from the day on which it falls during theweek (always November 1^st) to the following Sunday. Last week, All Saints’ Day came on November 1^st,and it was followed by All Souls’ Day (November 2^nd).

So, this isthe season for remembering with thanks the saints of God, the major ones andthe lesser-known ones, on All Saints’ Day. It is also the season for remembering those saints who have now passedfrom this life into eternal life with God, on All Souls’ Day.

This homilywill be a brief study in sainthood. Wewould do well, then, to begin with a definition of the word “saint”:

1. Any of certain persons of exceptional holiness of life, formallyrecognized as such by the Christian Church, esp. by canonization. 2. Aperson of great holiness, virtue, or benevolence. 3. Afounder, sponsor, or patron, as of a movement or organization. 4. Incertain religious groups, a designation applied to themselves. 5. Toenroll formally among the saints recognized by the Church. 6. Togive the name of saint, to reckon as a saint.[1]

Of course,if we look carefully, we can see that the word “saint” comes to us fromLatin. In fact, the same root word comesto us in its original Latin form as Sanctusin our liturgy, meaning “holy”. Themeaning of the word “saint” conveys that same sense of holiness, as we can seein the definition provided above.

With a gooddefinition of the word in hand, let’s turn now to some reflections on saintsand sainthood.

The firstobservation we might make is that saints become saints because of the processof being saved, or salvation. This is athree-step process, which unfolds this way:

1. Justification: When we come to God in faith, and enter thewaters of baptism, the stain of the sin that we were born with (called“original sin”) is washed away in the waters of baptism. In God’s sight, we become sinless, forChrist’s death atones for our sins, and makes it possible for us to be in anintimate and right relationship with God. The word “justification” carries with it a legal sense in which thepenalty for our wrongdoings is paid by Christ’s death.

Beingjustified in God’s sight allows the process of sainthood to begin.

2. Sanctification: (Notice that the word “sanctification” hasthe word that Latin word Sanctus containedwithin it.) Once we are in a rightrelationship with God, having come to Him in faith, having entered the watersof baptism, we can now begin a walk with God, one day at a time. Gradually, by the power of the Holy Spiritwhich is given and received at baptism, we begin to take on more and moreChrist-like virtues. Our old, sinfulnature begins to fade away, and our new, Christ-like nature grows inprominence.

Aswe grow in holiness of life, sainthood becomes more and more noticeable.

3. Glorification: When our earthly life is over, we enter intoGod’s promises and into God’s presence. We are provided with a glorified body (St. Paul attempts to describethis wonderful new existence in chapter fifteen of his first letter to theCorinthians). The cloak of sin which hadso closely clung to us throughout our earthly life is finally and completely castaside.

Onceour earthly life is over, sainthood often becomes very easy to see.

The nextobservation we ought to make is that the Church is in the business of being asaint-making factory. Not only does theChurch encourage those within to enter the waters of baptism, but it alsoencourages those who are now members of the Body of Christ to begin the processof sanctification outlined above. Holiness of life, holiness in speech and in deeds is the goal of everymature Christian, so that the light of Christ might shine brightly in thisotherwise-darkened and lost world. As asaint-making factory, we observe each other as we walk the Christian walk, andwe encourage one another by our actions and with our words to becomeChrist-like, slowly by surely, over time. We see God at work in each other’s lives, so that we can see God at workin similar ways in our own lives. Yes,the Church is a sort of spiritual laboratory.

Let’sreturn to the matter of sanctification as we make this next observation aboutsaints and sainthood: Being saintlyisn’t a matter of being sin-free. Farfrom it. Even St. Paul, writing inRomans, chapter seven, laments his own sinfulness, and the tendency that he hasto commit sin. “Wretched man that I am,”he says in desperation. No, a saintisn’t one who never commits sin, or even contemplates doing so. A saint is a person who has entered into acovenant with God through baptism, has become a righteous person in God’s sightas a result (see the definition of justification given above), and who nowseeks to follow God in righteousness of life, day-by-day. When sin or temptation comes along, as itsurely will, the righteous person will seek God’s forgiveness for the sin whichhas been committed, and will seek the assistance of the Holy Spirit to ward offtemptation, in order to amend one’s life and to seek to live more closely withGod’s desires for holiness. When thesaintly person seeks God’s forgiveness and seeks to amend one’s life, then thecovenant of righteousness is maintained and strengthened.

The matterof sainthood involves a struggle against the “default position” of the humancondition. As a person struggles toovercome the temptations that beset all of us, temptations to be bigoted,judgmental, greedy, or to exploit others (for example), the victories won overthese and other sorts of sinful conditions become the markers of a saint. For example, know someone who’s conquered anaddiction that is ruining their lives? With the help of God, they just might be a saint!

Oftentimes,saints can’t keep their sainthood a secret, as much as they might try, fortheir deeds give them away. Their wordsbetray the holiness of life that resides within their hearts. Saints of this quiet and unobtrusive sort areoften the most precious of all, for their modesty enhances the holy qualities ofhumility that are woven throughout their lives.

Saints. Saints with a big “S’, saints with a little“s”, all seek to come into a right relationship with God through the redeemingpower of Jesus Christ. Saints seek tofollow Christ, loving God, loving their neighbors, and loving themselves,too. And once this life is done, theyenter into the glory which has been prepared for them, where the holiness ofGod that His saints have searched for throughout this life is seen,face-to-face.

May God bepraised for these, His saints, in times past and the present time.

AMEN.

[1] New York:Barnes & Noble, Webster’s New Universal UnabridgedDictionary, 2003

20 Pentecost, Year A

2011-10-30T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 26 -- Joshua 3:7-17; Psalm 107:1–7, 33-37; I Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23:1-12

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, October 30, 2011.

“THE BUSINESS OF PREACHING: A PERSONAL REFLECTION”
(Homily texts: I Thessalonians 2: 9 – 13 & Matthew 23: 1- 12)

This pastweek, the thought occurred to me that it might be a good change of pace for meto reflect with you on the business of preaching. Since I’ve been preaching for about ten yearsnow (beginning when I was in seminary), the art and the craft of preaching hasbeen a major concern of mine, since it has to do with the priestly ministry ofteaching.

So whatwill follow here arises out of my own journey as a preacher. My prayer would be that what is shared herewill give you a glimpse into the goals that seem important to me as a preacher,and into the mechanics of going about reaching those goals.

Beforelaunching into those aspects of the preacher’s art and craft, I might make anobservation, and it is this: Preachingremains a major concern for God’s people. Sometimes, in the world in which we live, that amazes me, especially becausepeople often make comments about “having to listen to a sermon.” Whenever Ihear such comments, it strikes me that the speaker doesn’t intend for thecomment to be taken positively. Perhapsthose comments are mostly meant to be a joke, or perhaps they arise from theexperience of having had to bear with a bad preacher or with bad sermons (theyare out there, to be sure!).

Sopreaching is important, and it remains so. God’s people put a lot of stock into the hearing of good, concise andhelpful sermons. As a preacher, I’mthankful for that very positive sign of health among God’s people.

Let’s turnour attention, then, to the business of preaching.[1]

Helpful tools

There aresome practical aspects to preaching which enhance the chances of success. Among them are these:

Humor: A congregation needs to know that the preacher is a real, live humanbeing. Humor is one of the ways in whicha preacher can demonstrate such a reality. In addition, humor can allow us to remember a divine truth (in much thesame way that setting something to music will do, also).

Length of sermon: In seminary, we used to talk quite a bitabout the length of a sermon/homily. Concerns that peoples’ attention spans are shortening in the age inwhich we live as a direct consequence of the design and pacing of televisionand videos figured prominently in our discussions. The truth is that people today can sit stillfor shorter periods of time than was common years ago, and their ability tolisten, comprehend and absorb teaching/preaching is also cast in shorterallocations of time than was true in the past. One seminarian remarked that a sermon/homily ought not to be more thanseven minutes long. I’m not sure that’strue, exactly, but the truth remains that our sermons need to be shorter todaythan they would have been in times gone by. A humorous, but true, encounter I had with a parishioner will illustratethe point quite well: Shortly after mywife and I arrived in the Diocese of Springfield, I was preaching one day atthe Church of the Redeemer in Cairo (located at the very southern tip of theState of Illinois). A wonderfulparishioner named Russell Ogg greeted me after the service. (Russell was a World War II Marine, a holderof the Purple Heart, and as a consequence of his military service and his ownnatural inclinations was a plain-spoken man.) He held up his cane, pointing it directly at me, and said, “I will sitand listen to a 20 minute sermon. I willnot listen to a 21 minute sermon, I’ll get up and walk out.” A little while later, his wife, Louise, cameup to me and said, “He means it. I’ve seen him get up and walk outbefore.” I was a little shaken byRussell’s comment, and said to my wife, “Dear, I think maybe it’s time that youbegin timing my sermons. If it gets tobe anything longer than 15 minutes, maybe we ought to devise some signal – likehaving you pull on your earlobe or something – to warn me that I’m gettingtoward the time to end it.” (We neverdid implement that system, though oftentimes I will ask my wife about thelength of a sermon, its clarity, and her reaction overall…her feedback isinvaluable in assisting me to be an effective preacher. We all – as preachers – need that sort offeedback.)

Finding one’s voice: Every preacher needs to find the ways inwhich they can preach best. At times,this will involve some of the mechanics of preaching (issues such as: shall I read the text, shall I use anoutline, shall I use just a few notes, or is it best for me to preach withoutnotes, outline, or text?). It will taketime to get used to the ways in which a preacher’s own mind, temperament andgifts will dictate how a sermon or homily will unfold. It is usually a trial-and-error process, onein which the congregation often acts as a guinea pig (pity the listeners who areon the receiving end of a new preacher’s sermon…what an important ministry!).

Do your own work!: I have known preachers who get sermons offthe internet (yes, they’re out there!). I have also known preachers who receive sermon outlines or summaries oflectionary texts. Alas, my sense is thatusing such tools short-circuits the prayerful, in-depth encounter with a textthat the preacher must engage in. Ofcourse, some prominent preachers across the Christian community have gotten introuble for preaching sermons that were written by someone else withoutascribing the sermon to its rightful author. Failure to do the patient, searching work that is indispensible in thelife of a preacher essentially cheats the congregation, for it fails to allowthe congregation to enter into the text and into the preacher’s engagement ofit.

Goals which arekept in mind

No humanenterprise will be successful, it seems to me, unless there is/are a goal/goalswhich are kept firmly in mind. Here aremy goals as I write and deliver sermons:

Bringing God’s truth alive: God’s truth is timeless, applicable in everyage and in every circumstance. A goalthat I keep firmly in mind is that I hope to make the truth of God as we knowit in Christ Jesus known in what is said.

Enhancing biblical literacy: We live in an age in which many people do notknow much (if anything) about the Bible. My, how things have changed in that regard during my lifetime! Time was that most people you might meet onthe street would have some basic knowledge of some of the fundamental Christiantruths and events in Jesus’ earthly life. Now, that common knowledge base is gone, entirely gone. In its place, we have people who mightconfuse Easter with Ground Hog Day (to cite one example that Bishop Martinsrecently gave). So one of my major goalsas a preacher is to make the congregation into a group of biblicalscholars. Connected to that goal isanother one: To implant within eachperson’s heart a longing to know more about the Bible, and about the truths ofGod that its sacred pages contain.

Offering a challenge: One of the preacher’s tasks, it has beensaid, is to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” Balancing these two can be difficult, and Iwill admit to you that I sometimes struggle to wonder if I offer too much ofone or the other, comfort or challenge. Of course, the Bible itself challenges us, challenges our veryassumptions about ourselves and our relationships with the Lord. But it also offers much comfort, for itspages are filled with descriptions of God’s saving power, God’s abidingpresence and God’s compassion and care for us.

Approaches tocrafting a sermon

For eachpreacher, the approach to a sermon text or topic will vary with the particularskills and aptitudes of the preacher. Here is the approach I generally use (which may vary with differences inthe text at hand):

Meet the text(s): An initial reading of the text is mostimportant. Generally, I do that when Idraft the lectionary insert for the following Sunday, early in the week. (I often will take a full day to allow theprevious Sunday’s text and sermon recede a little into the recesses of my mind,to “clear the deck” for the new text and topic.) I read and reread the text, over and overagain.

Pray, pray, pray: Then, the text and mymeeting of it are bathed in prayer. Oftentimes, the prayer is quite short and to-the-point: “Lord, what do you want me to say about thistext?”

Approaches to the text begin to take shape: One or more ideas which will introduce thetext come to mind. (The images and ideaswhich arose in connection with our gospel text for today from Matthew were sonumerous that I had to simply pick one…see the section entitled “Forms”,below.)

Taking the listener into account: No sermon or homily exists in a vacuum. Our Lord’s preaching and teaching was oftenquite practical, and was tailored to specific problems or needs of Hislisteners. Likewise, a sermon needs tokeep the intended listeners in mind. Questions which arise in connection with this concern include: 1. What’s going on with the congregation presently? Is there a particular challenge or problempresent? 2. What is the particular makeup of thecongregation in terms of its age, spiritual wisdom and maturity, and biblicalknowledge? (I will admit that this areaof preaching continues to gain in importance for me personally as I mature as apreacher.)

Consider the context of the passage: An important question to answer is thisone: What is the overall context orsetting of the text as we have it today? Oftentimes, knowing the answer to that question will make importantdifferences in the meaning or the application of the text. Especially important is the matter of lookingat verses which are omitted from the lectionary (no system of reading the Bibleis perfect!). Sometimes, omitted versesdon’t affect the meaning of the passage, but sometimes, omitted verses seem tobe a way to avoid dealing with the “tough stuff” that the Bible often presentsto us. My seminary training wisely toldus to look closely at a passage if the lectionary omits verses or seems to chopup the passage. “Put those verses backin, if it makes sense to do so,” was the sage advice received during myseminary study.

Use of commentaries: One of the blessed kernals of truth which wasprovided during my seminary study is this one: Don’t consult a commentary on the passage you are going to preach aboutearly on in your consideration of the text. Wait for awhile, and allow your own study, combined with prayer (seeabove), to allow God to form within you what God might want you to say aboutthe text. Yes, commentaries can shedimportant and indispensible light on a passage as the knowledge and insights ofpersons who’ve devoted their entire lives to a deep immersion in the pages ofthe Bible is shared in commentaries. Using commentaries allows a deeper understanding of the culturalsettings of biblical accounts to be incorporated into the sermon. It also allows the nuances of biblicallanguages (Hebrew and Greek) to be discovered. But these resources are only meant to be supportive of the preacher’sown study and preparation, not a substitute or a shortcut for study and prayer.

Biblical languages: I once knew a preacher who was fluent inbiblical Greek. He was one of thosepeople who could pick up a New Testament and translate it into English atsight. He could also tell you the verbtenses, and much of the nuances of meaning that words in the text carry. I envy people like that, for it isn’t a giftthat I have. That said, however, apreacher’s skill will be sharpened if some knowledge of Hebrew and Greek is inthe training and background of the preacher’s life. Fortunately, today there are many and variedresources to assist the preacher in understanding what the original languagesof the Bible convey in terms of thought patterns, meanings, and so forth. Alas, for the example I cited at thebeginning of this paragraph, that talented person never used Greek in sermons. I always thought that the listeners weredeprived, somehow, of the vast body of deep knowledge that that particularpreacher possessed. Such abilities areblessings to be shared with others, to the upbuilding of the Body of Christ,and using them does not tend to elevate the preacher above the listener, unlessthere are issues of arrogance which are present in the preacher’s conductotherwise.

Turning the crystal: A wonderful image which has to do with thebusiness of preaching is captured in the phrase “turning the crystal”. Turning the crystal involves looking at abiblical text from more than one angle, in much the same way that a piece offine cut glass will reflect the light that passes through it in variousways. Varying the approach to a textallows the listener to glean insights from more than one angle, particularlybecause it is probably true that each listener hears his/her own sermon, andthe meaning grasped can be quite different from the one intended by thepreacher.

Choosing a formal structure: The formal structure of a sermon or homily isoften dictated by the shape of the biblical text itself.

Informer times, the traditional structure of a sermon was known as the “ThreePoint Sermon”. Its structure was:

Introducethe topic

Makethree points about the topic/text

Remindthe listeners of what you’ve just said

Thatsystem probably isn’t used a whole lot these days. Instead, a large number of schemes havearisen to take its place.

Thestructure I most often use is called Hook-Book-Look-Took. These terms need some explaining, so here’swhat they each mean:

Hook: Some memorable, brief introduction to the subject which is intended toget (and hold) the listener’s attention.

          Book: An in-depth look at the biblical text before the preacher and the congregation,including the context of the passage, meanings of key words, the culturalsetting of the original hearers or writers, etc.

            Look: We take a look at our own situation(s), applying lessons from the textto our own situation today.

            Took: Applications we can take away from the text for our lives today.

Perhapsthis method is a variation on the traditional three-point sermon. It does share some similarities, I think.

Now,how would Hook-Book-Took-Look be applied to our gospel text from Matthew, andour epistle reading from I Thessalonians? Briefly, here’s what come to my mind:

Hook: One day recently, I was driving into the bright morning sunlight. As the sun’s rays hit the windshield of thecar, just about all I could see was the dirt on the outside of the windshieldand the film inside. When I was drivingaway from the sun’s brightness, my windshield looked clean. However, turning the other way was quite anothermatter. The Pharisees in today’s gospelreading were much the same as my dirty windshield: seen in their own light, they looked prettygood, but seen in the light of God, they became the focus of attention. God’s light showed that their behavior simplycalled attention to themselves, and blocked out the ability to see God.

            Book: The picture we have of the Pharisees isn’t a pretty one. They come off as self-seeking, self-servinglegalists whose demeanor is hateful, arrogant and negative. (The spirit of the Pharisees is alive andwell in the faith community today!). ThePharisees’ behavior is one reason that Jesus lamented the state of faith amongGod’s people. The corruption of theleaders of Jesus’ time can be seen most clearly in their plotting to get rid ofHim.

            Look: Bad leadership is always troublesome for any group of human beings. But bad, corrupt leadership of the people ofGod is particularly destructive, for such leadership allows Satan’s designs,which are to undermine God’s truth and to destroy the effectiveness of thegospel, to flourish. This is one reasonwhy St. Paul takes so much time in writing to the Thessalonians to recount tothem how transparent their leadership was when he and his ministry team wherepresent in Thessalonica.

            Took: Every person in leadership within the Body of Christ ought to be subjectto an ongoing evaluation of their behavior, their attitudes, and theirfaithfulness to the faith once received by the saints. In every case where leaders are self-servingor arrogant, the dangers which arise in response to such leadership shouldalert God’s people to the threat such behavior poses.

            Well, thereyou have it. I hope this window into myown approach to preaching has been enlightening and helpful. After all, the preacher’s goal ought to bethat God will be encountered and seen in the sermon. If that goal is accomplished, then thepreacher and his creation, the sermon, will recede into the background inimportance.

[1] The entire field of preaching is known as homiletics. To aid in the formation of preachers, many,many manuals and textbooks exist which are used in the training of preacherstoday.

19 Pentecost, Year A

2011-10-23T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 25 -- Deuteronomy 34:1-12; Psalm 90:1–6, 13-17; I Thessalonians 2:1-8; Matthew 22:34-46

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, October 23, 2011.

“A LIFE BROKEN OPEN AND SHARED WITH ALL”

(Homily text: I Thessalonians 2: 1 - 8)

In pasthomilies, we’ve explored the idea of a gift that comes from God, which is thenbroken open and shared with everyone present.

We’ve donethat by remembering that God’s word is His gift to us. When a sermon or homily is given, its intentought to be that the sacred text is broken open and shared with everyone whohears (or reads).

The same istrue of the Holy Communion. The breadand the wine are God’s gifts to us, reminders of His love for us in ChristJesus. The bread is broken, and both itand the wine are shared with all who receive.

Now, let’sapply this concept to the life of one who is in some sort of spiritualleadership. Such a person might be apriest or pastor, a nun, or someone who’s dedicated their life to the serviceof God by serving others, or perhaps a missionary. Such a person might be someone who leadsMorning or Evening Prayer. Such a personcould be a Bible teacher, one who receives the gift of God’s word written, whoimmerses him/herself in its truths, one who comes into intimate contact withGod through the written word, one who then shares the benefits and the resultsof such dedication with all who hear or read. In each of these cases, a singular focus and dedication to God allowsfor an intimate relationship through which God’s gifts are received, andthrough which God’s gifts are broken open and shared with all.

(As weapply the idea of breaking and sharing to a person’s life, we would do well toremember that there is a subtle difference in the breaking and sharing that weexperience with God’s word, with the communion bread, and with a person’slife. In the first two instances, thevery gift (the word, the bread) are broken and shared. In the last case, however, the breaking openof a person’s life allows God’s gift to be seen and shared. The individual’s life becomes a carrier ofthe divine gift, not the gift itself.)

The textbefore us this morning, from the second chapter of St. Paul’s first letter tothe Thessalonians, outlines just these sorts of principles. To be clear about them, let’s enumerate whatwe’ve already said in outline form:

1. Godgives gifts to those whom He loves.

2. God’sgifts are received and absorbed by one who enters into a dedicated, deep andabiding relationship with God.

3. Theresults of this deep relationship are broken open and shared with all.

Turning now to our text, Paulfirst describes the gifts of God. Here,Paul has in mind one great, central gift: The gospel is the great gift thatGod gives, the Good News of Jesus Christ. Notice that Paul uses the word in verse two, in verse four, and again inverse eight. The deeper realizationhere lies in the truth that, in thesending of Jesus Christ, God the Father has given the ultimate gift: His very self in the person of His Son, whocame not only to instruct us in all righteousness, but to secure the salvationof our souls, to our benefit in this life, and in the life of the world to come.

Next, wesee that Paul describes the relationship that he and his fellow workers (theothers were Silas and Timothy) have with God. He states that this team: 1. Is approved by God, 2. SeeksGod’s approval, not that of human beings, 3. Knows that God examines their hearts (and their motives) and 4. Knows that God will be their witness.

Then, theresults of this deep and abiding relationship with God is shown in the mannerof life that the team exhibits. Not only in their personal behavior, but in thedisposition of their hearts, can we see the evidence of God’s life-changingpresence. Paul reminds the Thessaloniansthat: 1. They persevered in spite of the severe hardships that they endured inPhilippi, 2. They did not use methodswhich involved deception or guile to win the hearts of the ThessalonianChristians, 3. They did not seek toflatter or to seek personal gain, 4. They did not “throw their weight around”,[1]using their status as apostles, and 5. They became as servants (Paul uses the word “nurses”) to theThessalonians.

Personally,I believe that this text ought to be “required reading”[2]for anyone who’s engaged in any sort of spiritual leadership (see the listgiven on page one). This text reminds usof the centrality of knowing God’s gifts, and the requirement to receive thosegifts deeply and personally. It would begood practice for those in positions of spiritual leadership to remindthemselves periodically of these basic realities.

How thenmight any one of us who finds him/herself apply St. Paul’s wisdom as we conductthe ministries that belong to God, but which are entrusted to us, to ourbehavior?

Thequestion is an excellent one, which prompts the following observations:

1. DiscoveringGod’s gifts is paramount: God’s giftsare timeless, unchanging. The discovery of these truths never ends, no matterhow much study is applied to them. Forexample, evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the pages of sacredScripture lies, in part, in the fact that the deeper one digs into the Bible,the more and more depth of truth there is to be found there, layers upon layersof truth.

2. Discoveryof God’s gifts and God’s truth requires a personal, intimate, abidingrelationship with the giver of all good and perfect gifts, God: Simply put, we cannot share with others whatwe ourselves do not possess personally and deeply. This truth is especially important in thelife of faith, for a spiritual leader who possesses God’s truths and God’s giftsas intellectual concepts only will lack the integrity of being that theintegration of such truths and such gifts allows in the inner life of thesoul. (Take a moment to return to thetext before us today and notice how many times and in how many ways Paulmentions pure motives and pure actions, all motivated by self-giving[3]love.

3. Sharingthe gifts is the natural outcome of both knowing God and His gifts: Notice how Paul says that the missionary teamshared their “own souls” (The Greek here is “souls”, not “selves”, as theRevised Standard Version puts it). Bybreaking open his/her very inner being, the spiritual leader allows everyone tosee the most intimate aspects of God’s truth, which have been received andfolded into the very fiber of one’s being. This last aspect of the progression from knowing God’s gifts, and ofreceiving and appropriating them into one’s life, is the natural goal of theentire process. For just as God does not hoard nor reserve to Himself the giftsHis very nature possesses, but shares them with all who come into arelationship with Him, so too are we called to share those blessings and thosebenefits with all who will see and hear and experience.

Thanks beto God, the giver of all good gifts, for those, His servants, who come toreceive these gifts, and for lives broken open in service to God and to God’speople!

AMEN.

[1] This is Eugene Peterson’s rendering of theGreek, as we find it in his paraphrase of the New Testament TheMessage. His sense of the Greek ismuch closer to the original meaning that the Revised Standard Version’s “thoughwe might have made demands as apostles of Christ”.

[2] Another excellent addition to a “requiredreading” list for Christian leaders might include I Peter 5: 1 – 5, which isread in our tradition at ordination services.

[3] Paul uses the Greek word agape to describe the self-giving,self-emptying love that he and his companions had for the Thessalonians.

18 Pentecost, Year A

2011-10-16T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 24 -- Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm99; I Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22

A homily by Fr. GeneTucker, given at TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, October 16, 2011.

“REQUESTS: VALID OR BOTHERSOME?”
(Homily text: Exodus 33: 12 - 23)

Moses makesa request of the Lord in our reading from Exodus today: “Show me your glory.”

Is Mosesmaking this request because:

·        He himself needs some reassurance that God istrustworthy,

                        -or-

·        He feels that God hasn’t proven Himselfrecently?

Before weconsider the motivation for the request, let’s consider what’s happened toMoses since last week’s incident with the golden calf….

            Moses is ina tough spot….God’s people have just erected a golden calf, and have worshipedthat calf. Moses has succeeded inintervening on behalf of the people with God (this was our text from lastweek). Now, in the verses which immediately precede today’s passage, God tellsMoses that he is to lead God’s people into the promised land, but that God willnot accompany them as they go.

            What is atwork in the incident before us this morning is this: God calls a people into being, then proves tothem that He is worthy of their trust.

            These twoprinciples are at work with Moses and the Israelites, it is at work in thecreation of a new people in Jesus Christ, and it is at work in our lives today.

            We can seethese two ideas at work in the ancient Israelites as Moses leads them towardthe promised land. From the text, we see the following:

            1. Godcalls His people into existence. Inour text, we see that Moses says to the Lord, “Is it not in thy going with us,so that we are distinct, I and thy people, from all other people that are uponthe face of the earth.” This distinctivepeople would not exist without God’s call and God’s leading.

            2. Goddemonstrates His power in distinctive ways that are unique to Him: Here, we read that the Lord passed by Moses,shielding him from God’s presence as he hid in the cleft of a rock. God’s creative power is the distinctivemarker of the divine presence.

            These twoprinciples are linked together: Once Godhas called a people into existence, He provides the basis for knowing that Heis the one and only God by demonstrating those divine powers that are Hisalone.

            These twooperative principles are at work down through time, and they are active today.

           To put ourExodus passage in context, let’s review some of the ways that the twoprinciples we’ve listed above were seen in the Exodus account:

-         God calls His distinctive people out of Egypt, givingthem a unique identity. The Passoverevent is the distinctive marker of God’s people. By passing over the firstborn of those whohad followed the Lord’s command to put the blood of a lamb in the doorposts andthe lintels of their houses, they are marked as God’s distinctive people (seeExodus chapter 11).

-         God’s presence is seen in the thunder, lightning andthe blast of the trumpet as the Law is given on Mt. Sinai (see Exodus 19: 16).

-         God’s power overthe created order can be seen in the parting of the Red Sea, in the water thatflows from the rock, and in the manna and the quail which descend from heaven. His power was also demonstrated in the seriesof plagues that took place in Egypt.

            We can seethese principles at work in Jesus Christ, as well. Consider these examples which will illustratethe point:

-          God calls a newpeople into existence through Jesus Christ. The basis for becoming a part of this new people is no longer based onbeing a descendent of Abraham, but on faith. Speaking with the woman of Samaria, Jesus says that, “The hour iscoming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spiritand truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.” (John 4: 23)

We might add that the New Testament is filledwith the language of call.

-         Jesus’ miracles show that God’s power is made knownthrough His works of healing, His power over the forces of nature (the calmingof the sea, e.g.), and, above all, in His rising from the dead on Easter Sundaymorning.

            And thesevery same principles are at work as God continues to call His distinctivepeople out of the world and into an ongoing relationship down through time andtoday.

             God calls us through the waters of baptism,which are entered through faith in Jesus Christ’s redeeming work, done on thecross, and accomplished in His rising from the dead.

            In thepoint made above, we see the two principles at work together: God calls us to respond by faith,demonstrating His power to redeem and save through the work of JesusChrist. As we enter the waters ofbaptism, a new relationship is created: we become God’s child.

            Once webecome God’s child, a part of His distinctive family, the second principlebecomes reality….God will prove to us that He is trustworthy. In some way or another, in God’s way and inGod’s time, He will prove His identity to us, so that we can continue to trustand believe.

            But as lifewith God unfolds, there will be many challenges, just as there were for Mosesthose many years ago. We are faced witha choice. Should we:

            1. Ask God for assurance now and again, as weventure into the unknown (as Moses was about to do)?

            2. Ask God to prove Himself again and again,failing to trust past assurances of God’s presence and power as we can see themin times past?

            It would bemy hope that we would do the former, and not the latter. After all, we are venturing into theunknown. In that sense, our situation isvery much like Moses’ was. He made itclear that he didn’t want to go forward without God’s abiding presence. Neither should we.

            But if welook at our lives, perhaps we can see evidence of God’s presence and God’s work. Perhaps we can see it in a dramatic way, orperhaps the evidence will be harder to see, but no less powerful. The cluelies, it seems to me, in the ways in which God acted in times past. Particularly, we can see God’s distinctivepresence in His creative powers, particularly His power over life and death. Allow some examples to demonstrate God’sdistinctive presence and power as I have seen it in the recent past:

-          Healing fromserious disease or illness which cannot be explained by medical science. Here I think of a man who is known to me whothrough prayer and anointing with holy oil was healed of his failing eyesightthat medical science could not correct. This individual can see today.

-         Dramatic changes in direction for persons who havewrestled with addictions of one sort or another. I think – in this regard – of my father,whose life was being destroyed by two addictions. God’s power turned his lifearound, completely. God’s power accomplished what no one else had been able todo.

            God is atwork today, as He has been in every age. So today’s text encourages us to have a look around at our lives to thispoint. As we cast our eyes toward whatis now past, can we see God’s distinctive presence and power here and there?

            If so, thenthere should be no need to ask the Lord, “What have you done for me lately?”

            As we gointo the unknown that lies before us (and we ought to be honest and admit thatthe age in which we live is terribly uncertain and filled with unknowns), therewill be times when we need to ask God to show us His glory. I think that’s one lesson we can take awayfrom our Exodus reading this morning, that it’s OK to ask God to reassureus. He will answer that request, givingus what we need to face the future. So, go ahead and ask.

            May theHoly Spirit enable us to see God’s creative and distinctive presence and powerat work in our lives, that we may renew our response to His invitation tobecome a member of His distinctive people, that we may go forward into theunknown with God leading the way.

AMEN.

17 Pentecost, Year A

2011-10-09T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 23 -- Exodus 32: 1 - 14; Psalm106: 1 – 6, 19 - 23; Philippians 4: 1 - 9; Matthew 22: 1 - 14

A homily by: Fr.Gene Tucker

Given at: TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, October 9, 2011

“IDOLS, THEN-AND-NOW”

(Homily text: Exodus 32: 1 - 14)

Many peopleknow the account of the golden calf. Perhaps they may know it from the vivid depiction of the celebrationthat took place around the calf from the famous movie “The TenCommandments”.

Thisincident is one of the most famous in the Old Testament. The account is full of drama:

· afaithless leader and a faithful one, both brothers, one leading God’s peopleinto idol worship while the brother is on the mountaintop, interceding with Godto save the people;

· Idol worship which takes place while the Law isbeing given by God to Moses, the first commandment, being “I am the Lord yourGod….you shall have no other gods before me”;

· Mixing of the worship of the Lord God with thatof idols (the term “syncretism”[1] applieshere).

Of course,all these things exist side-by-side in the text, so the drama is heightenedconsiderably.

The makingof the golden calf is a classic example of idolatry. Here, we see a deliberate attempt to replacethe headship and the leadership of the Lord God with another god, one made byhuman hands, in the shape and likeness of an animal. (Psalm 106 captures well the inane nature ofthis folly, as it says, “And so they exchanged their Glory for the image of anox that feeds on grass.” Psalm 106:20)

Idolatry –defined as the worship of anything that takes the place of Almighty God – isalive and well. It was alive and well inancient times as God’s people made their way out of Egypt through thewilderness into the land that God had promised them, and it is alive and welltoday, too.

The pathwayto idolatry is quite similar, then and now, as well. We would do well to examine closely some ofthose steps, in order that we might see a similar progression in our own timeand in our own lives.

Looking atthe Exodus text, then, we notice the following:

God seems to be absent, or silent: Notice that the text says that the peoplesaid to Aaron, “Up, make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses,the man who brought us up out of Egypt, we do not know what has become ofhim.” Here, the side-by-side comparisonto the first commandment is striking: Inthe commandment, God says, I am the Lord your God who brought you up out ofEgypt.” (Notice that the same phrase - “TheLord God/Moses who brought you/us up out of Egypt” - is used in the firstcommandment and in the comment the people make to Aaron.) After deciding that they were pretty muchon-their-own, Aaron makes a calf out of the gold they’d given him, and thepeople proclaim, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of theland of Egypt.” (Notice that the same phrase is repeated. Notice also that Moses is quicklyforgotten: earlier on, the peopleclaimed that Moses had brought them out of Egypt, now they ascribe that eventto the newly fashioned gods.)

The people revert to their old,tried-and-true ways: Manycommentators will remind us that the golden calf idea didn’t comeout-of-the-blue, but was a fertility symbol in many Ancient Near Easternreligious cults. It’s quite possiblethat the people had encountered such a symbol during their time in Egypt.

Mix-and-match…religion to suit theindividual: Aaron’s role in all thisis curious: He deliberated fashions thecalf, using a tool to do so, and yet he says that the festival which willaccompany the celebration around the calf is to be a “feast to the Lord.” (We should remind ourselves that later on,when confronted by Moses, Aaron will claim that he simply threw the gold intothe fire, and out popped the calf! SeeExodus 32: 24.) We get the impressionthat the feast is to be “to the Lord”, but to the calf, as well.

Now, let’sturn our attention away from the incident which took place some 3,500 yearsago, and cast our gaze on the 21^st century. In doing so, we can see that not much haschanged with respect to the process which leads us into idolatry. Of course, the things that become idols, thenand now, have changed, but the process leading to the worship of any idol isoften the same.

We beginwith the first point that we made in our observation of the progression ofevents with the golden calf. There, weobserved that the people seemed to think that God was silent, and that God’sappointed leader was absent. “As forthis Moses, we do not know what has become of him,” they said.

The sameobservation can be made about our contemporary culture. Faced with many serious problems, the worldwe live in today encourages us to think that God is silent, and that we arewithout direction and leadership.

In responseto the problems and challenges we face today, many simply revert to thetried-and-true ways that were learned in Egypt….Of course, we might be sayingto ourselves, “But we’ve never been to Egypt.” True enough (for most of us, I suppose), but most of us have lived in asecular, pagan culture were idolatry is commonplace. (We’ll have more to say about contemporaryidolatry in a moment.)

The ways inwhich our secular, contemporary culture operates, particularly with regard tothose things that it says are to be valued, offers a vivid template foridolatry. We can be tempted, if we feelthat we are without God’s leadership and protection, that we are pretty much“on our own” and therefore, ought to adopt the attitudes and behaviors of thosein the culture around us. After all,those attitudes and practice constitute the “tried-and-true” of our time, the“conventional wisdom” of our age.

The finalpoint we made about those ancient Israelites is that they seemed to be quitewilling to blend various religious ideas together, as if they were all of equalvalue and usefulness. The same is truetoday. How often do I, as a priest, hearpeople say something that shows that they value another religious belief asmuch as they do Christianity? Unfortunately,I hear such things quite often. (Ishudder every time I do!). The bottomline is that such comments demonstrate an attitude that says, in essence, “Ican believe whatever I want to believe, and I can choose to take whatever is ofvalue from one source, and I am also free to choose something else of valuefrom another source.”[2]

So if theprocess leading to idolatry doesn’t seem to have changed all that much, weshould ask ourselves about the matter of the idols themselves as we might findthem today.

Here, wenotice that the idols have changed considerably. If the ancient Israelites chose to cast agolden calf in the first recorded incidence of idolatry among God’s people, wewill notice that they continued to have problems with the blending/adoption ofidols from the Canaanite religions down through their time in the promisedland, until their deportation into Babylon in 586 BC (that experience finallycured God’s people of their desire to adopt the pagan ways of the Canaanites!).

But our idolsaren’t like theirs. We are far moresophisticated in the choice of our idols.

Rememberingthat an idol can be defined as anything that takes God’s rightful and centralplace in our lives, then we can see that nearly anything has the potential tobecome an idol.

Let’senumerate a short list of possible idols that might be adopted from thecontemporary culture today: fame,fortune/wealth, status, objects (cars, house, possessions, e.g.), addictions(sex, drugs, alcohol, e.g.), guilt over past sins/wrongdoings (because we don’tallow ourselves to accept God’s forgiveness, thereby making the past/forgivensin the powerful and controlling reality).

Any ofthese things (and more) can become idols if they become the centralguiding/grounding reality in our lives.

But theLord God wants to be at the center of our lives. That means that we must relinquish thatcentral place to God, for – at its root – idolatry seeks to make us the centerof our lives, by allowing us to think that we can make the choices of what’simportant and what’s not….said another way, idolatry is really about control…wewant to be in control.

One finalcomment is in order: This is all aboutrelationships. Three levels ofrelationship are in view here. They are:

Godseeks to be first in life: “Youshall have no other gods before me,” the first commandment says. God wants to be in the first and centralplace in life. If God is in that place,then step two of our relationships will fall into place easily.

Everything else takes its meaningfrom God’s central place: All theother things we relate to in our lives will take their meaning from ourrelationship to God. This would includeour relationships with family, friends and others, our possessions/wealth, ouruse of time, our priorities in daily living. (The homily could easily turn – at this point – into a sermon about thestewardship of our time, talent and treasure.)

Some things are off limits entirely: Those ancient Israelites had no businessmaking a golden calf, much less worshiping it. For us, as well, some things are simply off limits to the Christianentirely. Equal estimation of any othersystem of religious belief would be one of those things, for in Christ, we haveseen the glory of God the Father (John 1: 14), and know Jesus Christ to be the“way, the truth and the life.” (John 14: 6). For another, watching things that are worthless (as Psalm 119:37 says),or are damaging to our spiritual wellbeing, should be on our list, too. (Here, I think of pornography as an example.)

Idolatry,then and now. Not much has changed downthrough the years in terms of the process by which idolatry comes into ourlives, though the things we choose to worship have changed dramatically, makingthe challenge to see idolatry when it exists harder to detect.

May theHoly Spirit guide and enable us to see the ways we might be tempted to followin the footsteps of God’s people in ancient times, that we might be preventedfrom following in their folly, as well.

AMEN.

[1] The dictionary defines syncretism this way: “Theattempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles,practices or parties, as in…religion.” Essentially, in the religious context, syncretism seeks to have usbelieve that all belief systems are of equal merit. In practice, therefore, syncretism seeks tohave us think that we can mix-and-match differing belief systems to suit ourpersonal needs and tastes.

[2] This attitude has been characterized by theterm “smorgasbord religion”, which is like walking through a smorgasbord foodline, choosing some items, while ignoring others.

16 Pentecost, Year A

2011-10-02T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 22 -- Exodus 20:1–4, 7–9, 12-20; Psalm19; Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46

A homily by Fr.Gene Tucker, given at TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, October 2, 2011.

“CALL-AND-RESPONSE”

(Homily text: Philippians 3: 4b – 14)

As Iconsider our epistle reading for this morning, from Philippians chapter three,the phrase that comes into my mind is “call-and-response”.

“Call-and-response”may be a term you’ve never encountered before, so it might require someexplanation.

The phrasecomes from a style of singing that is common to a type of music called “worksongs”. Work songs are a particularlyAmerican musical genre. They were sungby slaves working on plantations, by manual laborers in almost any setting, andby railroad workers. Sung by workers whowere doing manual labor, they were effective in getting the efforts of severalmen to work together, which was valuable for times when some heavy objectneeded to be moved. Another purpose ofwork songs was to combat boredom when doing repetitive tasks. Still another purpose was to say things aboutthe boss using coded language that he wasn’t likely to understand.

So worksongs were used this way: A caller wouldsing out a line, and sometimes the workers would answer with a response (hencethe term, “call-and-response”). At othertimes, the workers would move in response to the rhythm of the song.

Here’s anexample of a song (or chant) which was used when working on railroad track, usinglining bars[1] tostraighten out track that was out-of-line:

Beat: 1 2 3 4 Workers

Text: Come on Move it Huh (Pause) Caller

Beat: 1 2 3 4 Workers

Text: Boy can you Moveit Uhmmm (Rest) Caller

When thecaller called out the text in rhythm, the workers would tap their lining bars againstthe rail on each beat. Then when thesecond phrase came around, they would pull hard on their lining bars on beatthree of the second phrase (uhmmm).

Of course,with the coming of modern machinery, almost all of the heavy manual tasks thatwere done the hard way years ago have become a thing of the past. Along with the loss of those ways of gettingwork done, the work songs that made the work easier and more efficient (andless boring!) have also disappeared. This observation applies to railroading, just as it does to many – ifnot most – other sorts of work which were done manually in times gone by.

Now keepthis image in mind as we turn out attention to St. Paul’s wonderful letter tothe Philippian Christians. It’s worthnoting that this letter is the most positive and heart-warming one that we havefrom the apostle’s hand, and today’s passage is no exception to thatobservation.

Essentially,Paul is talking about God’s call and his response.

Applyingthe image of being a railroad worker, we see from the beginning part of thepassage that Paul lays out what I might call his “religious resume”. He tells us about his pedigree: 1. He was circumcised on the eighth day (inaccordance with the requirements of being in covenant relationship with God);2. a member of the nation of Israel; 3. from the tribe of Benjamin; 4. aPharisee; 5. a persecutor of the Church;and 6. blameless under the Law of Moses.

So,according to this former way of thinking, Paul says that he was fully qualifiedand was going about doing God’s will and work in the world.

Exceptthat, once he had been called into God’s service through the call of JesusChrist, he realized that it was as if he was working without being hired. Oh yes, it is true that he was fullyqualified according to his own understanding of the terms of being hired, butit was as if he had shown up at the jobsite without an invitation, and withoutinstructions from God about what to do and where to do it.

So, hesays, once he came to understand that it is through faith in Christ that he iscalled into a proper relationship with God, he counted his life before God’scall came to him on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9: 1 - 23) as “refuse”, asthe “loss of all things”.

For the Godwho called Paul on that road that day also told him what things he was to dofor the sake of the kingdom of God, as it has come in Jesus Christ.

From thenon, Paul had become a part of God’s work party, willing to do whatever Godcalled him to do, and willing to do it wherever God sent him.

So Godcalled and Paul responded. Once Paulresponded, God’s plan became clear. Paulhad a purpose and direction which was absent before.

God’s callcomes to us, too. Perhaps that callwon’t be as dramatic as Paul’s call was….maybe there won’t be bright lights, novoice coming from heaven. But the callis there, nonetheless.

And thecall comes not just once, but again and again.

God’s callcomes, first of all, at baptism. Whenthe new believer enters the waters of baptism, it’s as if God is taking thatnew Christian onto his “work team”. “Come and serve me as you serve others” might be a good way tocharacterize the call which comes at baptism.

Once we’reon the team, other calls come to us as we are invited by the Holy Spirit tolearn what it means to be a member of this team, and just what it is that the“boss” (God) wants us to do to get the work done that He has in mind.

Still othercalls come as we discern what vocation God has in mind for us…..We ought topause here for a moment, and take apart that word vocation.

Vocation has to do with one’s “calling”,for the word itself comes to us from the Latin, where it means “to call”.

So aperson’s vocation is their calling in life. Usually, we associate the word vocation with a person’s careerpath. We also associate the word with aspecific application to ordained ministry. But, in truth, everyone who is a child of God, claimed by God in baptismas His son or daughter, has a vocation, a calling.

And ourvocation might change or be refined as we continue to work in God’s field, Hisvineyard, His world. New tasks arisewhich demand a response. New challengescome along which might prompt us to ask God to help us learn new ways ofresponding.

The callscome, again and again, throughout our life.

It is ourtask – along with Paul – to strive toward the upward calling of God in ChristJesus. For to do so keeps ever in ourminds and hearts God’s “big picture” and our part in bringing about God’s willon earth, just as His will is done in heaven.

God calls,we respond. May the Holy Spirit enableour response, again and again, until we attain to that upward call of God inChrist.

AMEN.

[1] A lining bar is a steel bar which is aboutfive to five-and-one-half feet long. Itis round on one end, and square at the other. It is used to pry the track when it is out-of- line.

15 Pentecost, Year A

2011-09-25T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 21 -- Exodus 17: 1 – 7; Psalm 78: 1 – 4, 12 – 16; Philippians2: 1 – 13; Matthew21: 23 – 32

A homily by: Fr. GeneTucker

Given at: Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois;Sunday, September 25, 2011

“BY WHAT AUTHORITY?”

(Homily text: Matthew 21: 23 – 32)

“By whatauthority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” thechief priests and the elders ask Jesus in today’s text from Matthew.

Put anotherway, their question comes down to this: “What right to you have to do what you are doing, and where did thatright come from?”

Of course,the chief priests and the elders ask this question because Jesus has become adirect threat to their power, their position, and their authority.

The reasonfor this is clear: before now, Jesus wasteaching and performing miracles in other places, place like Galilee. To those in Jerusalem,Galilee might have seemed a long wayaway. But now, Jesus has come to Jerusalem itself, and hasdriven the moneychangers out of the temple with a whip of cords. As if that wasn’t enough, He is also teachingin the temple.

Things arecoming to a head as we move toward Good Friday. A showdown is coming between these religious leaders and Jesus, andtoday’s exchange is only one of the preliminary skirmishes between these twoopposed forces.

The chiefpriests and the elders question Jesus’ authority because He has directlychallenged their authority.

But let’sput ourselves in the place of the crowds who had gathered around Jesus to hearHis teaching and to see Him heal. Forthey, too, must have asked this question to themselves, “Where does this manget this authority, and who gave it to him?”

Jesus’growing popularity shows that many had come to believe in the authority Hepossessed. Many had answered thequestion about His authority and His believability. After all, the gospel writers make it clearthat Jesus taught “with authority”, and not like the scribes.

Thisquestion has everything to do with a response to Jesus’ teaching, for if Jesus’teaching does not rest on God’s authority, then there is no reason to believeHim at all.

But ifJesus’ teaching does rest on God’s authority, then we are compelled to respondto it. If we respond to Jesus’teachings, then we must amend our lives to bring them into line wit what Hesays.

Is God atwork in Jesus Christ, in His teachings, in the miracles, in the way which Helived and died and rose again.

Can wetrust Jesus’ leadership? Can we see thatHe has authority from God the Father?

For ananswer to those questions, we should consider the integrated life that Jesusled.

Jesus leadsan integrated life in three ways:

1. By showing that He has authority from theFather: Jesus’ miracles show that Hehas the same creative power as God has. When He healed a person, He restored them – recreated them – byconquering the destructive powers of disease. When He calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee,He demonstrates the same power over nature that was evident at the creation ofthe world. When He taught, His teachingis consistent with the wisdom of God which had been given ages before.

2. Byliving an integrated life: Jesus’manner of life matched what He said. He put into practice in daily living thethings He taught. So the way He lived encourages us to live the same way.

3. By encouraging others to live the same way He did: Jesus seeks to bring His disciples into the same lifestyle that Helived. An example of this can be seen from His teaching in the Sermon on theMount: He said, “You have heard it said, ‘You shall do no murder.’ But I say to you that if you hate yourbrother, you have already committed murder in yourheart.” Jesus seeks integration of theinner life and outer actions.

By allthese measures, the chief priests, the elders, the scribes, and the Phariseesall flunk the test:

- They lacked the power to heal and to control the forcesof nature. Moreover, their teachingwasn’t consistent with the teaching and the tradition they’d received. Their teaching was lifeless, formal, andlegalistic.

- They didn’t live out what they taught. Jesus criticizes them for thatdisconnect. He said that they lovedtheir places of honor at banquets, they loved going about in long robes andbeing greeted in the marketplaces, they made the garments look like they wereespecially religious and devout people. But Jesus called them “whited sepulchers”. Put another way, Jesus said they looked goodon the outside, but were full of dead bones on the inside.

- Worst of all, they didn’t encourage people to live theway they did. Jesus said that theirteaching laid heavy burdens on others’ shoulders that they themselves didn’tcarry.

Can wetrust the Lord to have the same authority today that He claimed 2,000 yearsago?

I believethe answer is “yes”, for these reasons:

- Jesus’ teachings remain consistent with the truth ofGod that He received, and which He passes on to us.

-     Jesus continues to heal today, just as Hedid long ago. Just this past week, Iheard of a situation in which a young person now shows no signs of theprecancerous cells that the tests had shown she had. God is at work!

-         Jesus integrated life stands as a model for all ofus. No one else lived the integrated,sinless life that He led.

-         Jesus’ power recreates the lives of those who believein Him. We become new creations, as St. Paul said, the oldhas passed away.

So theproof that Jesus continues to have authority from God is seen in His ability toheal, in the record we have in Holy Scripture of His teachings and His perfect,sinless life, and in His power to bring new life into our lives, day by day.

May God’sHoly Spirit enable us to ask the question, “By what authority do you do thesethings, Lord Jesus Christ?” May thatsame Holy Spirit bring us to know with clarity that the Lord Jesus Christ hasall authority from God the Father, even today.

AMEN.

14 Pentecost, Year A

2011-09-18T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 20 -- Exodus 16: 2 - 15; Psalm105: 1 – 6, 37 - 45; Philippians 1: 21 - 30; Matthew 20: 1 - 16

A homily by: Fr. GeneTucker

Given at: TrinityChurch, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, September 18, 2011

“FAIRNESS - OR - GENEROSITY?”

(Homily text: Matthew 20: 1 - 16)

“But it’snot fair!”

Can’t youjust hear the reaction of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day as He tells theparable of the laborers in the vineyard? Perhaps if any of the Pharisees who’d come to test Him earlier (seeMatthew 19: 3) were still standing around, they might have reacted with justthe sort of statement with which we began: “But that’s not fair. It’s notfair to reward those who worked just one hour with the same wage as those who’dworked all day.”

And thepoint, of course, is precisely that: InGod’s reckoning of things, it isn’t fair at all. But, God’s standard of fairness and yours andmine are entirely different things.

You see,God tends to be much more generous than we are.

For we livein a world which operates on the basis of contracts. Contracts are everywhere! We agree to work for such-and-such an hourlyrate, with time-and-a-half for overtime, or perhaps double pay for even moreovertime. And if workers aren’t paid onthat basis, they often are paid in some other sort of an exchange, such as somuch pay for a certain amount of piece work.

Contractsexisted in the spiritual mindset of the Jewish people 2,000 years ago. For the picture we get from the four Gospelwriters is that people back then tried to scrupulously keep all the variouscommandments of the Law of Moses. And,the expectation was, if you kept all those, you earned your way into God’sfavor.

We shouldremind ourselves that that’s the sort of world we live in: so much reward for a certain amount of work.

It’s nowonder that people in those ancient times thought that by their efforts alone,they could curry favor with God.

The earlyChurch wasn’t immune from that sort of thinking. A British monk named Pelagius, in the latefourth and early fifth centuries, taught the same thing. Boiled down to its essentials, Pelagius’teaching maintained that people were capable of earning their ownsalvation. We didn’t need God’s graceand generosity to come into favor with God, Pelagius said. “Pull yourselves up by your own spiritualbootstraps,” is a good way to characterize Pelagianism, which the Church wiselybranded as being a heresy.

But let’sreturn to Jesus’ parable.

The pointseems to be simply this: God, ourgenerous and gracious God, showers blessings on people who don’t deserve themat all!

God showersHis blessings on people who respond to His call to come into His service verylate in the day, or very late in life. Answering God’s call, even then, carries with it a reward which is neverequal in any way to the length of service rendered. That is one point that Jesus makes in today’sparable, for sure.

God showersHis blessings on people who weren’t born into His family. That seems to be another point that Jesus ismaking in today’s parable, and one that might have meant a lot to the Churchthat Matthew seems to be addressing, an early Church, located perhaps in modernday Syria, and which was composed of both Jews and Gentiles. To those who weren’t born Jewish, thisparable says, “Never mind. You haveanswered God’s call to come into relationship with Him through JesusChrist. That’s all that matters.”

And whatdoes the parable have to say about those who answer the call?

I think that’san important part of the lesson Jesus wants us to get today, and we should makea point of it.

Notice thatJesus says that the workers who were standing around in the marketplace untilthe eleventh hour (that’s 5:00 PM), were standing there “idlely”. They had no purpose. And the landowner asks them why they arestanding around, to which they reply, “Because no one has hired us.” Thelandowner responds, “You go into the vineyard, too.”

When Godcalls us, at whatever time or at whatever point in our lives, that call givesus a purpose we would not have had otherwise. For, you see, God’s call brings us into line with His plan and Hispurpose for our lives. When we respond tothat call and go into the vineyard to work for Him, we will find our truest anddeepest selves. When that happens, thetalents God has given to each of us will find their highest purpose in servingour generous and gracious God, and in serving others.

So, torepeat the comment with which we began, we might say, “It’s not fair!” Yes, from a human point-of-view, we can. But God is the Lord who acts according to Hisstandard of fairness, and according to His generous and gracious nature. When we respond to His call to come into apersonal relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, we will find our truestselves and our highest calling.

May God’sHoly Spirit enable us to look upon God’s generosity and not on our ideas offairness, for all of us have been blessed by His grace and His favor.

AMEN.

13 Pentecost, Year A

2011-09-11T10:30:00.000-06:00

Proper 19 -- Exodus 14: 19 – 31; Psalm 114; Romans14: 1 – 12; Matthew18: 21 – 35

A homily by Fr.Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church,Mt. Vernon, Illinois onSunday, September 11, 2011.

“JUDGMENT AND THINGS ADIAPHOROUS”

(Homily texts: Romans 14: 1 – 12 and Matthew 18: 21 -35)

“Adiaphora.”

I know thisis a word that is constantly on your lips and in your thoughts. Perhaps, right now, as you sit listening tothe opening of this homily (or are reading it in hard copy or online), you aresaying to yourself, “I wonder if that concern I had this morning is adiaphorous or not.”

OK, I’m arealist….I know you probably weren’t thinking about the word adiaphora at all, but, no doubt, you’veconcerned yourself with the issue of what falls into this category or not, asyou’ve walked the faith walk with our Lord.

Adiaphora comes to us from the Greek(naturally), where it refers to things that are non-essential.

            So, withthis clear understanding of what the word means, let’s venture into the matterof essentials vs. non-essentials in the life of faith, and let’s examine as wedo our Lord’s teaching about forgiveness and judgment.

            For todaywe hear His words, “So my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if youdo not forgive your brother (or sister) from your heart.”

            Chillingwords, those.

            They werespoken by the Lord Jesus Christ in response to Peter’s question, “Lord, howoften shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?”

            From thewording of Peter’s question, we can tell that his question is posed in direct response,in direct connection to last Sunday’s gospel reading (which immediatelyprecedes today’s), where Jesus teaches His disciples about sinning andforgiving.

In thatgospel text, (recall with me) Jesus says that, “If your brother sins againstyou, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” I can’t resist saying, at this point, thatthe beginning of Jesus’ teaching here and the wording of Peter’s question showthat last week’s and this week’s gospel texts are tied together.

            As Jesusunfolds His teaching last week, we see that He indicates that by going to theoffender, one-on-one, you have the opportunity to regain that offender. If the offender doesn’t listen, then takeothers with you as witnesses. Finally,if that doesn’t work, then the matter may be brought to the attention of theChurch.

            In lastweek’s text, Jesus then says that the purpose of bringing the matter to theentire Church is so that the offender may be to the Church as a “Gentile and atax collector.” Although one approach totreating someone like a “Gentile and a tax collector” is to shun them, or to kickthem out of the Church (excommunication), there is another approach to Gentilesand tax collectors, one that we see in Jesus’ own example: He sought them out, continually offering themthe chance to repent and to come into the fullness of life that He aloneoffers.

            One keyreason for Jesus’ teaching – both last week’s and this – is to foster unitywithin the Body of Christ (the Church). Consider what would happen if people harbored grudges and bitterness,one toward the other. Quickly, the Bodyof Christ would splinter. That wasprecisely a major problem with the Corinthian Church.

            So todayJesus says that we are to forgive our brother (or sister), not seven times, butseventy-times-seven. Essentially, He issaying that we are to have an endless reservoir of forgiveness available.

            But there’san aspect to last week’s teaching and this one: judgment.

            For sin tobe detected, there must be a standard against which to judge behaviors. Implicit in the case of sin is a recognitionof what constitutes sin.

             And thatbrings us to St. Paul’s teaching to the Roman Churchesin the middle of the first century. Headmonishes those early Roman Christians by saying, “Why do you pass judgment onyour brother?”

            But wait aminute….how can we reconcile the need for judgment (in order to know what issin and what isn’t), and Paul’s proscription of passing judgment?

             I think theanswer lies in the overall shape of Paul’s comments on the matter ofjudging: He is pointing to things thatare adiaphorous (remember thatword?), things like what holy days to observe, what to eat, and what to drink.

            All ofthese things are adiaphorous, that isto say, they are non-essential part of the Christian faith and life. They do not affect a person’s spiritualhealth or the welfare of their souls. (Practices such as keeping certain holy days or refraining from eatingor drinking may act as valuable spiritual aids for some believers. That is important to acknowledge and affirm.)

            Now, let’sreturn to the matter of judging others.

           This matteris one of serious concern to the contemporary Church. How often do I, as a priest, hear people say,“Well, I can’t judge that person,” or “It’s not my place to judge.”

            Sometimes,in this connection, people will quote part of Jesus’ teaching about passingjudgment on others by repeating what He said in Matthew 7: 1, which reads, “Judgenot, that you be not judged.”

But what isleft out is the second part of Jesus’ teaching, which reads, “For with thejudgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it willbe measured to you.”

            So, takentogether, Jesus’ two comments don’t proscribe passing judgment at all. What they do is to say that, if we judgeothers, we’d better be aware that we will be judged by the same standard thatwe apply.

            Put anotherway, it indicates to us that we’d better be willing to “walk the walk and talkthe talk” if we are to assess whether others are doing so, as well.[1]

            Consideringall that Jesus had to say about judgment and passing judgment, I think it’ssafe to come to the conclusion that we are not barred from making judgmentsabout what is right and what is wrong in God’s eyes, no, not at all.

            For if werefrain from assessing what standards apply to the Body of Christ and itsmembers, then we run the risk of dropping our standards entirely. When that happens, then, the body ceases tohave its core identity, and, like purely secular groups, ceases to have anypurpose for existence.

            Even acursory review of the state of much of the Church today will show that this isan enormous problem. What is essentialto the faith is compromised in the name of “not passing judgment.” Pretty soon, the Church becomes some sort ofamorphous, spiritual blob, lacking in standards, lacking the ability to mirrorthe holiness and righteousness of Jesus.

            So the keyissue here is the matter of determining what is essential and what is not.

            I would beremiss in my duty as a preacher and as a priest if I didn’t offer some sort ofindication of what is essential for a Christian to believe in order to be atruly worthy of the name. Here’s a shortlist:

·       The Holy Scriptures, which are the word of God,written, and which contain “all things necessary for salvation.”[2]

·       The faith as it is expressed in the Creeds(Nicene, Apostles, Athanasian).

·       The moral teachings as the Church has receivedthem from our forebears in faith.

            Thesethings, I maintain, are essentials.

Much elsethat affects our lives as Christians is adiaphora,non-essential.

So let usbe wise in our discernment of what is central to the faith, and maintain thatin fidelity to the deposit of faith which was “once for all delivered to thesaints” (see Jude 3). About thesethings, we are called to judgment and discernment, in order that the faith“once delivered to the saints” is recognizable from one generation to another,maintaining fidelity in beliefs and in moral practices that spring from God’sindication as we have it in Holy Scripture.

About allelse, let us be charitable and let us be loathe to pass judgment on a Christianbrother or sister.

AMEN.

[1] Jesus further illustrates this point in Histeaching about plucking the log out of one’s own eye in order to be able to seethe speck in someone else’s (see Matthew 7: 3 – 5).

[2] This phrase comes from the vows which aretaken when a person is ordained. See theBook of Common Prayer, 1979, page 526).

12 Pentecost, Year A

2011-09-04T08:30:00.001-06:00

Proper 18 -- Ezekiel 33: 7 – 11; Psalm 119: 33 – 40; Romans13: 8 – 14; Matthew18: 15 – 20

A homily by Fr.Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church,Centralia, Illinois on Sunday, September 4, 2011.

“LOVE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL, LOVE FOR THE CHURCH”

(Homily texts: Romans 13: 8 – 14 & Matthew 18: 15 – 20)

“Owe no oneanything except to love one another,” St. Paulsaid to the Christians who were members of the churches in Rome nearly twenty centuries ago.

Theadmonition we hear todayfollows on a series of short, to-the-point statements that we’ve been hearingon the past two Sundays as we’ve made our way through chapter twelve, and nowinto chapter thirteen of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Paul hasmuch to say about the business of “loving our neighbor”. But what he has to say doesn’t come out ofthin air, it comes from the wisdom that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself imparts.

            And as welook at our gospel text for this morning, we can easily see that what Jesus hasto say about discipline within the Body of Christ, that is, the Church, hasmuch to do with the business of a deep, abiding love and concern for thewelfare of the individuals who make up the Church, and for the Church’swelfare, as well.

            So let’sexplore what Jesus has to say as Matthew has relayed it to us. We’ll do so in a quite methodical fashion:

            1. The first principle is one ofconfidentiality: Jesus says, “If yourbrother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone” (italics mine, of course). Sothe principle here is that the matter which has caused strain and stressbetween two persons is to be resolved privately,between the party who seems to be at fault, and the one who knows about thematter. Explicitly excluded is anypossibility of creating gossip, or of “triangulating” the individual by drawingothers into the matter. Jesus’instructions make it clear that the source of trouble or disagreement is to beresolved at the smallest level possible, that is to say, involving only thosewho are immediately concerned with the issue at hand.

            2. Restoration of broken or impairedrelationships is the aim of dealing with perceived wrongdoing: Notice how Jesus puts this aim: “If he (your brother) listens to you, youhave gained your brother.” Presumably,the person who is the offender would make restitution (if there is harm toanother person), and would seek forgiveness from God and from others, asappropriate, once the offender has become aware of the offense. The object here is to seek amendment of lifefor the offender and restoration of relationships that have been threatenedbetween the two persons involved. Thewelfare of the Body of Christ is protected as well, for divisions within thebody are healed before further harm can occur.

            3. Having begun with the smallest number ofpersons, Jesus now says that, if the initial encounter between the twoprinciple parties has not met with success, then two or three witnesses are tobe brought along so as to confirm the evidence against the offender. Jesus’ principle here comes straight out ofJewish law, where at least two or three witnesses were required to establishthe guilt of a person (see Deuteronomy 19: 15). Hopefully, then, the offender will repent of his sin. Notice that Jesus has enlarged the circle ofthose who know about the matter at hand, but only slightly.

            4. If this intermediate step does not solve theproblem, then the Church is to be brought into the matter. We should pause here for just a moment tonotice Matthew’s use of the word “Church”. His is the only gospel account to use this word, which is taken from theGreek (ekklesia). The Greek word refers to those who have been“called out” (its literal meaning). Applied to the Body of Christ, this word has come to mean those who havebeen called out of the world into a new relationship with God through JesusChrist. In Matthew’s understanding, itis the entire body which is the final authority to “bind and loose”, that is,to declare what is acceptable and what is not, within the body.

Itis also worth noting that, in Matthew’s gospel account, there is no hierarchyof Church leadership which is to make decisions about matters of discipline. The entire body acts as the authority asMatthew presents Jesus’ teaching to us. Matthew’s understanding of Jesus’ teaching is that every member of theChurch has a role to play in the leadership of the Body of Christ, each oneresponsible to the Father as the model of Christ is followed.

What, then,is the aim of this process of Church discipline?

It seemsthat there are two aims:

1. To protect the Body of Christ from theeffects of sin and wrongdoing.

2. To restore every individual who goes astrayto a wholesome and holy relationship with God and with others. (Notice that Jesus states this aim quiteclearly as the process of seeking amendment of life in the offenderbegins: “You have gained your brother,”He says.)

Sometimes,parts of the Body of Christ (the Church) have focused on the first of the twogoals in the disciplinary process, to the exclusion of the second goal. Some Church groups have practiced “shunning”whereby a person is to be avoided by members of the Church. Other Churches have formal procedures for“excommunication” from the group.

But theChurch is also called to seek amendment of life among those who seem to havegone astray, and seeking such amendment is to be done on a continuing basis. Atleast that’s the impression I get from Jesus’ own example. Noticing that the Lord says that the offenderis to be treated like a “Gentile and a tax collector”, we can see (especiallywith the latter category) that Jesus continually sought out the tax collectors,offering them His love, first of all, and also the opportunity for amendment oflife and a wholesome and holy relationship with the Father.

May theHoly Spirit enable us to lead holy and wholesome lives, may we seek to do nowrong to a neighbor, may we seek to enable others so to live, as well.

AMEN.

11 Pentecost, Year A

2011-08-28T10:30:00.002-06:00

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

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, August 28, 2011.

“THE CHRISTIAN TRADEMARK”
(Homily text: Romans 12: 9 - 21)

St. Paul writes in our epistle reading this morning, “Let love be genuine.” This opening exhortation is then followed by a series of short encouragements, all of which are marks of Christian faith.

I hold in my hands this morning a cereal box from one of the major manufacturers of breakfast cereal. You all recognize not only the box, but the name on the box, and also the contents of the box. You all know that this particular maker of cereal has been making this type of cereal for a long time, and if you were to open this box, pour out a bowl of it, and eat it, you would know exactly what to expect in doing so.

Trademarks and brand names arose in the 19th century to do some specific things: they were meant to standardize products, they aided in identifying a particular brand name/trademark with a specific product, and they promoted loyalty in purchasing patterns.

We’ve already considered some of these aspects in our description of the cereal box that I continue to hold in my hand. For example, if you’ve sampled this particular type of cereal from this particular maker before, you are either inclined to buy and eat it again, or not.

If you’ve eaten this cereal before, you know what to expect in terms of its quality. It is either of consistently good quality, or it isn’t. (If it is of poor or inconsistent quality, you know not to buy it in the future.)

Having considered this much about brand names and trademarks, let’s consider the process that goes into the making of a product by the makers of it, and then let’s apply those lessons to the business of being a Christian. For St. Paul is urging us, in our epistle reading for today, to uphold the Christian brand name and the Christian trademark.

So, we begin by looking at the creation of the product itself: The makers have a specific concept in mind when designing a product. Usually, the product is intended to improve people’s lives somehow. (OK, I know that many of the claims made by manufacturers in advertising go far beyond what is reasonable in terms of a product’s actual ability to make people’s lives better or easier.) Then, the designers come up with the product, which is then created and inserted (in the case of the cereal box illustration we began with) into the box.

Next, the product is marketed, and (hopefully) builds “market share”, though advertising and through people’s experience with the product, which is then shared with relatives, friends and acquaintances. (Notice that much of the advertising we see today tries to combine those two elements.) The idea here is for people to make associations with the brand name and with the quality/usefulness of the product.

Finally, people try the product, and those who stick with it in their purchasing habits find it to be of value/a betterment to their lives. Feedback is often a part of this process, with users providing the makers with reports about how well their brand name/trademark matches up to the quality of the product and the claims that have been made for it.

Now all of what we have just observed about the creation, marketing and use of a product applies to the Christian life, and – in essence – is what St. Paul is trying to do by educating those early Christians who were members of the various churches that were in Rome in the mid-first century about.

So, let’s turn to Paul’s writing and see how this applies.

Our first observation has to do with the creation of the “Christian product.” (Sorry, I don’t mean to sound crass in describing the Christian faith, but I don’t have a better term at hand to use!). We should remind ourselves that God is the designer and creator of the Christian faith. It is God alone who chose to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to become one of us, fully human and yet fully divine. So, in a sense, God is not only the designer, but the demonstrator of the superiority of the Christian faith over all others. Jesus Christ becomes the first “marketer” of the faith (sorry again, I don’t mean to sound crass about Jesus Christ’s person and work).

Continuing in this line of thinking, we might remind ourselves of some of the key features of the Christian faith as Jesus taught and demonstrated them. They would include:

• “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Matthew 7: 12) (also known as the “Golden Rule”).

• “Do not resist one who is evil, but if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5: 39)

• “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5: 44)

• “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hell cannot be hid, nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, an it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5: 14 – 16)

So this is the “design” of the Christian faith as Jesus Christ created it and passed it along to His disciples, and to us.

The second observation that we ought to make is with the quality of the Christian faith and the associations with the name “Christian” and the quality of life that being a Christian brings. As Jesus died, rose again and ascended into heaven, His disciples became apostles. That is to say, they were “sent out” (the root meaning of the title “apostle”) into all the world, carrying the good news that Jesus Christ brought and taught with them. As people believed their testimony and saw that their manner of life was distinctly different and better, they too, discovered the richness of life and the quality of life that being a Christian believer brings along with it.

Our third observation has to do with feedback to the designer of the faith (God) and the widespread sharing with others about the Christian brand name and what being a Christian brings with it, that is, a much fuller, more meaningful and joyful life. The Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ spread far and wide, throughout the known world. Within 300 years, the Roman Empire itself had become Christian. The Christian faith had overcome skepticism, harsh persecution and opposition to overcome all other claims by rival belief systems, pagan ones.

Well, then, what was it that distinguished Christians from all others? How were outsiders able to make connections between the Christian brand name and its distinctive trademark and the qualities that the Christian faith is made up of?

I think the simple answer is that they lived by the principles that new life in Jesus Christ demands we live by. These principles are part-and-parcel of the teachings of Jesus Christ (see the samples provided on page two). Notice how many of the principles that were listed there, all of them coming from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters five through seven), are consistent with what St. Paul tells us we ought to be doing as we bear witness to the claims of the superiority of the Christian faith. He says this:

• “Let love be genuine.” (Romans 12: 9)

• “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (12: 12)

• “Contribute to the needs of the saints.” (12: 13)

• “Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them..” (12: 14)

• “Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.” (12: 17)

• “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (12: 21)

Notice how much of this is consistent with Jesus’ teachings. (Paul was an excellent student and a fine teacher!)

Our task is just the same as those who have gone before us in ancient times: We are called to be an excellent advertisement for the claims of the Christian faith, and specifically for the Christian faith’s ability to bring us into a close relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ, his Son, and for the Christian faith’s ability to bring with it fullness of life, peace and joy.

In so doing, the inner reality that the faith’s designer’s intent dwells in our hearts and minds will match the outer claims of the Christian brand name and trademark.

May it ever be so with us!

AMEN.

10 Pentecost, Year A

2011-08-21T10:30:00.001-06:00

Proper 16: Exodus 1:8 – 2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, August 21, 2011.

“FINDING OUR TRUEST SELVES”
(Homily text: Romans 12: 1 - 8)

Two questions come before us this morning as we hear St. Paul’s writing in chapter twelve of his letter to the Romans:

1. Are you living life to the fullest?

2. Have you found your truest self?

These two questions are at the heart of Paul’s appeal to the early Christians who were members of the churches in Rome.

Paul feels very strongly about this matter. He begins (verse one) by saying “I appeal to you”. But the language is actually stronger than the word “appeal” might suggest: He is urging his listeners to find their truest selves, and to live the fullest life possible.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Paul insists that finding our truest self means giving up our lives as “living sacrifices” to God.

Giving up our lives means finding it, in so many words, and this thought echoes one of Jesus’ important sayings: “He who loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10: 39b)

Before we look a bit more closely at what Paul has to say, let’s take a moment to define the terms “living” and “sacrifice”:

Sacrifice: Something that is given up, or offered, to God. A sacrifice can be an offering to make atonement (the ancient Hebrew word meant “to cover over”) for sins. A sacrifice can also be made to give honor to God, or to offer thanks to God.

Living: Something that is active, has an ongoing existence, and can respond to changing circumstances.

Now Paul tells us that three aspects of our being are involved in becoming “living sacrifices”. They are the three aspects of our nature that we possess as created human beings who are made in the image and likeness of God (see Genesis 1: 28):

Bodies: Our physical selves, that part of our nature that can be seen and touched, whose actions point to an inner disposition of the spirit and the mind. The physical aspect of our created nature comes from our having been made “out of the dust of the earth” (Genesis 2: 7).

Minds: Our rational nature, the God-given ability to think like no other created beings can, for we are made in the “image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1: 28)

Spirits: That part of our nature that comes from having been created by God specifically and intentionally. Genesis (2: 7) says that God “breathed into our nostrils the breath of life”, and that we became living creatures as a result. Possessing a spirit is also part of having been made in the “image and likeness of God”.

Now, let’s put all of this together.

1. Paul says that each of us possesses a “measure of faith”. That measure of faith was given to us when we became believers. It is God’s gift, pure and simple. In contrast to very common beliefs in the first century (the Gnostics, e.g.) and in our own time today, possessing faith and the wisdom which can come from it isn’t something that we inherently have within ourselves, which we must simply discover. No, faith is God’s gift, a gift we can receive and cultivate into mature living.

2. Possessing this “measure of faith”, we are to use our minds to soberly assess how well we are living up to the example of life that we see in Christ Jesus. This means stepping outside of ourselves to have a serious look back at what we see, both good and bad. The truth is that, if we are honest about ourselves, we are all a mixture of successes and failures where Godly things are concerned. So Paul says, “Have a look, a serious, sober-minded look.”

3. If we have a good, long look at ourselves, we can – with God’s help – amend our lives, casting off the worldly ways (he says, “by the renewing of our minds”) in which we lived before coming to Christ. We are to look earnestly at God’s ways as seen in Christ Jesus, and by doing so, we will be able to discern what is the will of God, and will be able to discover what is good, acceptable (to God) and perfect.

The process leads to true living and true life. To discover what God’s will is, and to apply it to our lives day-by-day means that we will truly live, not in seeking the thrills that this life offers, not in the self-destructive ways that our contemporary culture would like us to follow, but in Godly living, building up one another in the works that Paul enumerates for us in verses four through eight of our reading today.

May we – by God’s grace and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – come to the fullness of life and living that walking in God’s ways alone offers.

AMEN.

9 Pentecost, Year A

2011-08-14T10:30:00.001-06:00

Proper 15: Genesis 45:1-15; Psalm 133; Romans 11:1–2a,29-32; Matthew 15:10-28
This background piece is by Fr. Gene Tucker, and was provided to Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, August 14, 2011.

“A BASIC PRIMER ON WORSHIP”

(Introductory note: This present piece takes the place of the homily text for Sunday, August 14th, being the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. As such, it is printed and inserted into each bulletin for that day, to serve as a background for our Instructed Worship, during which time we explore the meaning of our worship practices and actions that we do during the service of Holy Eucharist each Sunday.)

Definitions

Liturgy: Derived from a Greek word (leitourgia) which was applied to any public act of service. The Greek word itself is literally translated “the work of the people”. Today, it denotes (generally speaking) any formal type of worship service in which a set pattern of events unfolds.

Worship: Webster’s Dictionary defines worship (in part) as “reverent honor and homage paid to God”, and the “formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage”. The word has its origins in Old English, and seems to be a contraction of the two words “worth” and “ship”. So, in worshipping God, we are holding God in high esteem, in high worth.

Goals of Worship

God is the focus of worship: In a real sense, God is the audience for our worship. The congregation is not! We – the worshippers – are the actors on the divine stage, conveying the estimation with which we hold God, the honor we give him, by our actions.

A role for everyone: Everyone present for the worship service takes part in the divine drama. The Celebrant’s role is to lead the drama, much like a director would in a play. No one person’s role is more – or less – important than another’s role.

Worship, not entertainment: We meet to worship God, not to be entertained. For that reason, the music we use, the language we employ, is distinctly different from the music and the language that the secular, contemporary world makes use of.

Worship with body, mind and spirit: We are composed of body, mind and spirit, a unified being. In worship, we use our physical bodies as part of worship (bowing, crossing ourselves, singing, speaking, etc.), we use our minds to grasp the truths of God, and we employ our spiritual inclinations, being created in the “image and likeness of God” (see Genesis 1: 26).

Connecting with the saints: The liturgy that we use has its roots deep in Christian history (in fact, part of Eucharistic Prayer D – page 375 in the Book of Common Prayer – stems from the 4th century!). So, in using these words and these forms, we join with the Church Triumphant – that part of the body of Christ from times past which is now in eternity – uniting our voices and hearts with them in a unified chorus of praise to God. Knowing who we have been in the past makes it possible for us to understand who we are in the present, and allows us to face the future, offering the richness of Christian teaching and a veneration of God almighty as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

7 Pentecost, Year A

2011-07-31T10:30:00.001-06:00

Proper 13 -- Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1–7,16; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, July 31, 2011.

“ARE YOU SAVED ?”
(Homily texts: Romans 9: 1 – 5 & 10: 1)

“Are you saved?”

Perhaps we have occupied ourselves with this question at one time or another….Hopefully, we have!

Perhaps we’ve been asked this question by a friend or family member at some point in our lives.

The question has everything to do with our relationship to God.

In essence, it is a question that has to do with our acceptability to God, and our place in God’s plans, not only in this world and in this life, but in the world and the life which is to come.

The question of salvation is at the heart of St. Paul’s anguished comments, heard in our epistle reading for today. He says, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart….” Reading on a bit, we learn that the ones he is concerned about are his own people, the Jews.

And if we skip ahead to Romans 10:1, we find there the reason for Paul’s concerns: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them (the Jews) is that they may be saved.”

Paul’s great concern, the purpose of his four missionary journeys, was to make the saving power of Jesus Christ known to the entire world of the first century.

So, perhaps we can agree that the matter of “being saved” is central to an assessment of our relationship to God. It’s one of the main reasons why the Church itself exists in the first place: to bring people into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. (I must add, however, that bringing people to the point of making a profession of faith in Jesus’ saving power isn’t the only reason why the Church exists.)

If we can agree that the business of “saving” people is basic to all that we do, then what does the process of “being saved” look like?

Is a person saved once, at a specific time, date and place?

Or is there an ongoing nature to the business of being saved?

With these questions in mind, let’s explore the business of “being saved”.

We can begin by affirming what Christians generally hold to be truths concerning the saving process:

• God’s grace is necessary for a person to be convinced of the need for being saved in the first place. The Holy Spirit prepares the heart and mind for this step. Indeed, most Christians would say that, absent the Holy Spirit’s workings, we are unable on our own to turn to God and ask for His saving grace to come into our lives.

• The saving act of Jesus Christ, whose shed blood on the cross atones for sin, makes it possible for us to be justified in the sight of God. Essentially (and in line with Old Testament views of the atoning sacrifices of that era), it works like this: When God sees us as redeemed persons, He sees Christ’s righteousness, instead of our sinfulness. Christ’s blood atones (the Hebrew word for atones means to “cover over”) for our sins.

• Christ does the work of redeeming, saving us, and we accept His free gift by faith, becoming new creations in the process (see II Corinthians 5: 17)

Now, let’s look more closely at two common views of the salvation process.

We will begin with the views of evangelical, born-again Christians, for – oftentimes – it is they who focus most on this question of being saved:

Some Christians firmly believe that being saved is a one-time event that happens at some point in a person’s life. Often, these Christians are more firmly convinced that a person is saved if they can identify a specific time, date and occasion when a prayer of conversion was offered to God. Furthermore, such Christians often dismiss declarations of faith which are made at a very early age (before what is known as the “age of discretion”).

Though it is risky to broadly describe the views of Christians who insist that a declaration of faith is essential for a person to be saved, nonetheless, there is some validity in assessing their view of being saved as being a one-time, historical event. They may say something like, “I was saved on such-and-such a date at _____ church.”

Christians who focus on a “born again” experience firmly connect the salvation experience with future rewards in heaven with God.

So it seems fair to say that, among evangelical, born-again Christians, the focus is on the event of being saved itself primarily, and on the promises of God, which will be fulfilled in heaven, secondarily.

Being “saved” is seen as a done-deal, an historical event.

But are there other views of the saving process that Christians affirm?

The answer is “Yes”, there are.

Many Christians affirm a threefold process of salvation, viewing the process as one of:

• Justification: Having accepted Christ’s atoning sacrifice for sin, the new Christian is justified in the sight of God. The process can begin at baptism, which is normally followed by a mature expression of faith (the rite of Confirmation by a Bishop). Or, it can occur as a conversion experience which takes place after the age of discretion. This the aspect of being saved is the beginning point, an historical event (or realization).

• Sanctification: This is the process of being transformed into the image and likeness of Christ. For most Christians, this is a life-long process, which is marked by positive steps forward, but also by failings, as well. The Holy Spirit’s presence and guidance is mandatory for this process to unfold. The Church’s role, too, is critical, for the Church becomes a sort-of “spiritual laboratory” where we see God at work in each other’s lives, a process that enables us to see God at work in our own lives in similar ways.

• Glorification: When this life is done, then it is time to accept God’s promises for His children. It is then that we can claim God’s assurances, made in Christ, that where He (Jesus Christ) is, there we will be, as well.

This three-fold, lifelong process of salvation is framed quite well by the Roman Catholic apologist James Akin, who describes it this way:

“I have been saved, I am being saved, and I shall be saved.”

We cannot come into the Lord’s family as Christians if we do not engage the question “Am I saved?”, for this question is the beginning point of our new life in Christ.

We begin with our need to admit our own unworthiness before God, we accept Christ’s work of salvation, and we are saved.

Then, the work of salvation continues as we are shaped and molded into the Lord’s image, one day at a time.

Finally, we will enter into God’s promises, made in Christ Jesus, and we will see Him face-to-face, and not as a stranger.

Thanks be to God for His saving power and mercies!

AMEN.

6 Pentecost, Year A

2011-07-24T10:30:00.001-06:00

Proper 12 -- Genesis 29:15-28; Psalm 105:1-11; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31–33,44-52

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, July 24, 2011.

“RECIPROCAL, INSEPARABLE LOVE”
(Homily texts: Romans 8: 26 – 39 & Matthew 13: 31 – 33, 44 - 52)

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

These words are some of the most powerful that St. Paul ever wrote. They are part of one of the most powerful set of verses that ever came from his mind.

As we look at our epistle reading from Romans chapter eight, this morning, we see that Paul goes on to name a whole series of absolutely awful possibilities that might try to separate us from the love of Christ. He names them thusly, saying, “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Shall these things separate from the love of Christ?

Then, he appends another list of things that might try to separate us from Christ’s love a few verses further down, adding these to the list: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Distilling Paul’s second list down a bit, we might say that nothing at all will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing! Nothing at all!

With Paul’s convictions in mind, let’s consider the business of our relationship to God, through Christ Jesus. Specifically, let’s look at:

• What it means to be in a relationship with God the Father, through God the Son,

• How can we understand the hardships that come our way, in light of our relationship with God.

Let’s begin, then with the matter of our relationship with God, through Christ.

As a way of understanding that relationship, we can use – as an illustration – our human relationships.

When one person seeks to establish a deep and lasting relationship with another, usually some sort of love is offered (this could be any of the sorts of love that the Greek language provides for love: Eros: romantic love; Phileo: brotherly/sisterly love; Agape: self-giving love). The person to whom this love is offered can reject it entirely, or can accept it. Only when the person loved accepts the love offered is the relationship established.

So, we can deduce that, for a love relationship to be established, it must be offered, must be accepted, and must be returned.

(I think that I am generally right in my assessment of how a loving relationship works.)

Now, it is entirely possible for an individual to love another, but for the other person to refuse to accept or return the love offered. It is also possible for two persons to enter into a loving relationship, only to have one partner reject the love and the relationship later on. In such cases, the relationship either ceases to exist, or becomes impaired.

Now, let’s apply this understanding to our relationship to God, through Christ:

1. Love offered: God the Father loves us, and proves His love for us in the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ, to come among us as one of us (truly God and truly human). The supreme expression of God’s love is seen most clearly in Jesus’ death on the cross.

2. Love accepted: We come to accept God’s love in Christ through faith. It is this sort of faith that the Lord describes in today’s gospel reading. He says that, if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, then our relationship with God will blossom and grow into maturity (see Matthew 13: 31 – 33). Believing that what Jesus did for us through His death and resurrection, we accept God’s love, and become children of God in the process. Baptism is the portal through which we come to enter into a covenant relationship with God. The relationship of love offered and love accepted is established, and we are “marked as Christ’s own for ever.”

3. Love returned: As we go through life, from the day of our baptism forward, we return God’s love by coming to know more and more about the Lord, and by showing forth in our lives, by the things we do and the ways we live, that we are God’s people, inheritors of God’s promises made in Jesus Christ. Most clearly, we demonstrate this love when the hardships of life come along. Here, we look again at St. Paul’s “short list” of possible hardships – hardships that the early Christians of his day faced – that might come our way.

This relationship of love cannot be dissolved. We are “marked as Christ’s own for ever”, as our baptismal service says (see the Book of Common Prayer, page 308).

God’s people down through time have recognized that God is a covenant-making God. That is to say, God enters into binding agreements with His people. (Some of these covenants are unconditional, while others are conditional.)

An example from the Old Testament period would be the covenant that God made with the people at Mt. Sinai, as the Ten Commandments are given. God, in this case, enters into a covenant with the ancient Israelites, offering them His love, His blessings, and His abiding presence. In this covenant, God tells the people that they can choose to return His love and be faithful to Him, or they can reject His ways and His commandments. They are free to choose either path. (So the covenant which was established at Sinai is a conditional covenant.)

Alas, God’s people in those ancient times often chose to ignore Him. They chose to follow after the pagan deities of the Canaanites in the land where they had come to live. In choosing to disobey, they brought curses upon themselves, instead of blessings.

Eventually, those ancient Israelites came to understand that the hardships that came along with their disobedience amounted to nothing less than God’s testing of them, to see if they would be faithful or not.

The hardships that Paul enumerates for us today, are ours to endure, as well.

Yes, it is true that some items on the list that Paul provides for us are less likely to be the ones that we will face in the 21st century.

But an abiding truth is that life’s hardships often amount to a test, a test to see if we will be faithful to God, living life as faithful, covenantal Christians, in a pagan world which is often indifferent to the love of God, offered in Christ.

If hardships are a certainty, then how do we get the grain of faith that is as small as a mustard seed that Jesus talks about? I think one way we can get that sort of faith is by looking back over our shoulders into our own life’s history to see those times when God’s guiding and stead hand was present. We often see His working most clearly during times when hardships and challenges appear.

Can you see such times in your own life in the light of God’s continuing, abiding presence?

I surely can!

Knowing that God was present in those times makes it possible to face the future, yes even its hardships, with the knowledge that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

5 Pentecost, Year A

2011-07-17T10:30:00.002-06:00

Proper 11 -- Genesis 28:10-19; Psalm 139:1–11,22-23; Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24–30,36-39
A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, July 17, 2011

“RECEIVING A GIFT, TO GIVE A GIFT”
(Homily text: Matthew 13: 24 – 30, 36 - 43)

Are you a gift to others, to the world?

I’ll admit, this isn’t an idea that we probably give much thought to in our day-to-day lives, though there are circumstances that might prompt us to think of ourselves in just this way.

For example, if another person is very ill, we might help them or support them in some way or another, and maybe we might reflect on what we’ve done and realize that our actions are a gift, given in love and with care, to that other person.
The Church is a gift.

The Church is God’s gift to the world, meant to bear fruit in the world, for God’s glory and for the welfare of the world.

Now hold that thought for a moment, while we consider the setting for this statement.

Jesus is telling us today the second of two parables that have to do with sowing seeds and reaping a harvest. The first one we heard last Sunday, the very familiar “Parable of the Sower”. In that parable, Jesus tells about the various things that happen when seed is sown on rocky ground, on thorny ground, on hardened ground, and on good ground.

You’ll remember that last week’s parable had an explicit, clear explanation of its meaning, provided by the Lord Himself. The same is true of today’s parable, which is usually entitled “The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares”.

So these two parables have lots in common: agricultural themes having to do with sowing seeds, and a clear explanation, provided by Jesus, following the telling of the parable.

Today’s parable provides a clear picture of the circumstances in which the “sons of the kingdom” find themselves, in a world which is hostile to the will of God. Jesus likens the situation to that of a weed-infested field, in which the roots of the weeds and intertwined with the roots of the desirable plants.

With this background in mind, then, let’s look at some of the main points which are made by Jesus in this parable, and then let’s draw some conclusions from our observations.

The Church: In the parable, the landowner deliberately chooses, and then casts, the good seed onto the field, which Jesus says, is the world. If the good seed is the “sons of the kingdom” then, we might surmise that Jesus could be referring to the Church. After all, Matthew is the only gospel writer to actually record the world “Church”. Remember that the Church isn’t an institution, but the assembly of God’s people.

Here, we ought to pause for a moment. It might be easy for us to think that the Church is brought together by the free will of the people who are in it. Put another way, we might say that the Church is “our” doing, brought into being by the choice of those in it. But the image here is something else which is entirely different: It is the landowner who chooses the good seed, the “sons of the kingdom”. So then, the Church comes into being because of the will of the Son of Man (Jesus), and we (the seeds) are deliberately chosen to be in it.

Jesus will amplify this point as He speaks to His disciples in John 15: 16, when He says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…”

The world: Without the presence of the good seed on the land, the field would simply be worthless. Weeds would abound, and there would be no good purpose to the field at all.

The presence of the good seed gives value and worth to the field.

So the good seed (the members of the kingdom, that is, the Church) is meant to be a blessing, to bring worth, to the field (the world).

In this sense then, the Church’s members are meant to be a gift, a blessing, to the world.

Opposition: Jesus is a realist….He knows that the sons and daughters of the kingdom are in an environment in which there is opposition to their presence. Jesus identifies this opposition as being the work of the “evil one”, an “enemy”, the “devil”.

As we look back into the Old Testament, and go to Genesis, chapter three, we see that this has always been so throughout history. There, in the Garden which was in Eden, the serpent had access to Adam and Eve, and the access that the serpent had allowed him to tempt them both into eating from the forbidden tree.

So evil has always been a part of the world in which we find ourselves. We can expect opposition from the forces which are opposed to God. We can expect this opposition to endure until the end of the age, at which time the landowner will come and pluck out everything that is opposed to God and to His will for the world.

Living with the bad seed: The Lord delivers an important lesson for the Church in this parable: We will have to live among the presence and the opposition from the seeds of the wicked one.

This realization will cut across our desires to live in a world where evil has been taken away. The Lord makes clear that the sorting out will come, but not until God is ready to do the sorting.

To do the sorting ourselves risks the possibility that the good seed will be uprooted along with the bad, and the blessings that the good seed’s presence brings will be lost.

So then, let’s draw some conclusions from our observations.

First of all, we would do well to remember that it is God who calls us to become citizens of His kingdom. “You did not choose me, but I chose you,” we read a moment ago. So, the gathering of the citizens of the kingdom is the gathering of God’s people, the Church. The Church itself is God’s possession and is meant to be God’s gift to the world. We are blessed if we have been chosen by God to be a part of His family.

Secondly, since we have received a gift from God to be a part of His body, then we are meant as recipients of that gift to be a gift to others, bringing purpose to the world and life to it. We can only be a blessing and a gift if we are physically present in the field (the world).

Then third, we ought to remember that, as we live our lives day in and day out, there will be opposition to God’s purposes. But God has placed us in this environment to bring worth to what would otherwise be worthless, and God will reap the harvest in His own good time. The harvest is guaranteed!

May we be a blessing and a gift to others, just as we have received God’s blessings and God’s gifts, that we might go and bear fruit for the kingdom.

AMEN.