Pentecost 3, Year C (2022)

I Kings 19:15 – 16, 19 – 21 / Psalm 16 / Galatians 5:1, 13 – 25 / Luke 9:51 – 62

This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, June 26, 2022.

 

“GOD’S CALL AND THE REST OF LIFE”

(Homily texts: I Kings 19:15 – 16, 19 – 21 & Luke 9:51 - 62)

 

A common theme ties together our Old Testament reading from First Kings and our Gospel reading, from Luke, chapter nine. That theme has to do with God’s call to service and ministry, first to the prophet Elisha, and then, in Luke, to Jesus’ call to go to Jerusalem, there to confront the powers that existed in that time and place.

In each case, Elisha’s and Jesus’, God’s call meant the abandonment of all that had gone before. In Elisha’s case, we are told that he was plowing with the prophet Elijah found him. When Elijah called him into God’s service, the plow and the oxen went away. When Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke’s way of describing God’s call), the Lord set aside everything that had preceded that call. In the Lord’s case, His journey toward Jerusalem is marked by encounters with various persons along the way. In each case, the interaction between the Lord and these others tells us something about the Lord’s singular determination to do God’s will in Jerusalem. In essence, the Lord’s responses to these various persons (which must surely qualify as hyperbolic speech – speech that is deliberately exaggerated and meant to shock or to surprise) indicate that, to follow God’s call, everything else must be put in place against that call, with God’s call coming first.

In the years that have followed, numerous persons have followed God’s call by abandoning all that comprised their former lives before God’s call came. Some have become monks or nuns. Others have become missionaries, or have gone to faraway lands to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ. (Most of the original group of disciples who became apostles fit into this category.) Some who’ve been called into ordained ministry become itinerate in their places of ministry, moving from parish to parish, oftentimes leaving extended families behind.

But for most of us, God’s call doesn’t mean a total change of location, or of occupation.

Most of us will continue to live our lives pretty much as we’ve done, in the locations in which we’ve lived, and following the secular callings we’ve been engaged in.

How then, do we fit God’s call into that sort of a pattern of life, a life that asks us to pay attention to God’s call and God’s will, as we also pay attention to the everyday expectations and duties that life puts in our pathway?

We might begin by reminding ourselves that each and every one of us has a call from God. God’s call doesn’t come to or apply to only those who’ve been called into ordained ministry, or to some radical change of occupation or location, like monks, nuns or missionaries. By virtue of our baptisms, we are, each one of us, called by God into service.

Perhaps it would be good for us to recall that each and every action and word we do or say potentially constitutes a witness to God’s indwelling presence. It is for that reason that we promise, in our Baptismal Covenant, that we will “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ”. (Book of Common Prayer, page 305.)

In practice, this means that we would seek out the best interests of all with whom we come into contact. Yes, even those whom we might find difficult to be around or to interact with. Yes, even those who differ from us in some sort of a way.

At this juncture, I am reminded of the nature of the world in the time when the early Church went out into the world, carrying the Good News (Gospel). That Greco-Roman world of the Roman Empire was a deeply stratified society, one which demanded that people stay “in their own lanes”, whether they were noble persons, slaves, or something in between. The Church set aside all those distinctions that separated people from one another, as they met to praise God in worship, and expected that noble persons would sit next to a slave, each one calling the other “brother” or “sister”. To the secular society of the time, this was an affront and a scandal (and one of the reasons the Church butted heads with the secular society).

Our society today is deeply stratified, with people being categorized by any number of markers, all of which are secondary aspects of who they are as persons, persons who are created in God’s image and who are worthy of God’s love and ours.

If God intensely loves each and every person (for that is the essential nature of each person, a person who is deliberately created and loved by God), we, too, are called to do the same. Even to those who seem to be entirely unlovable. Even to those who differ from us, yes even to those who differ from us in significant ways.

Loving those others with whom we have contact doesn’t mean that we are to be proficient practitioners of gentile manners, or of polished social skills. Our love for others goes deeper than that, and it must abide even if we find we don’t necessarily like something that that other person we’ve encountered does (there is a difference between loving someone and liking what they do).

One final word: This is hard work. It will require – with the help of God’s Holy Spirit – the transformation of our default expectations and practices. We won’t be able to love as God loves without that divine assistance.

But we are called to this ministry. There is no dodging this call from God.

AMEN.

Pentecost 2, Year C (2022)

Proper 7 :: Isaiah 65:1 – 9 / Psalm 22:18 – 27 / Galatians 3:23 – 29 / Luke 8:26 – 39

 

This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, June 19, 2022.

 

“ON LIBERATION, CONVERSION AND A NEW IDENTITY”

(Homily text: Mark 8:26 – 39)

 

The season after Pentecost begins in earnest this morning. Its arrival also means that we will return to reading Luke’s Gospel account, which is the focus of much of this current year, Year C, in our three-year lectionary cycle.

This morning, we are presented with Luke’s report of the healing and deliverance of a man whose condition had destroyed his place in his community, and which was also destroying his health and welfare. This man lived on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. The community from which he came is known in Matthew’s account of this incident as Gadara, while in Mark and Luke, it is known as Gerasa[1]. (It’s possible that either place could be the correct one, because the two communities were located on the eastern side of the sea.)

If we are to identify the main aspects of this account, we would do well to say that Jesus’ deliverance of this afflicted person is one of liberation, of healing, of Jesus’ breaking down the barriers which separate us from one another, and an outward-looking perspective on the Good News of God (Gospel) that Jesus’ coming among us represents.

Let’s set ourselves, then, to an exploration of each of these parts of the account.

We begin with the theme of liberation and deliverance. Jesus’ actions often amount to a liberation from some sort of bondage or life-limiting/threatening condition. Consider, for example, Jesus’ healing miracles.  True to say, each one of them represents the truth that God’s power to create and to re-create is demonstrated as Jesus touches and heals. But there is another aspect to these healing acts, and the truth here lies in the attitudes of those who lived in those biblical times long ago, for in that day, time and place, a diseased person was regarded as being a sinner, one who had forfeited their place in society by some grievous misdeed or another. Moreover, touching or coming into contact with such persons often rendered the person who had done the touching unclean, unable to enter the Temple for worship in Jerusalem. The basic attitude back then was that an ill person was to be avoided. Consider then that Jesus is the one who willingly touches the leper, the one who lays hands on the sick and the suffering. Jesus breaks down the barriers which separate, both physically and spiritually.

It is in this context that the deliverance offered to the Gerasene demoniac (as this person is often known) was a deliverance in his physical condition (whether that condition was due to demonic possession, or to mental illness of some kind, or to some other condition[2]), but it was also a deliverance in his social standing.

We mentioned that Jesus broke down the barriers which separated sick or ill persons from the rest of society. Jesus also broke down barriers by His crossing the Sea of Galilee to go to the eastern shore, for this was Gentile territory. Back in biblical times, Jews normally didn’t associate with Gentiles, and if Jews lived in Palestine, they would often avoid contact with Gentiles if such contact could be avoided. Jesus, however, goes into this Gentile area. His actions foretell the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Luke would have been quite interested in all aspects of today’s incident, for Luke was a Gentile who had come to faith in Christ; he was a physician, so he would have been interested in Jesus’ healing acts; and he delighted in relating Jesus’ concern for the downtrodden, the poor and the powerless, whose fortunes were reversed by Jesus’ presence and power.

As the Good News went out into the world, the early Church put Jesus’ actions into practice. The Church welcomed all persons, from all backgrounds. They called each other “brother” and “sister”, even if one of them was a noble person and the other was a slave. Each one found a new identity in Christ, which meant that their former identities faded into the background. Their former identities didn’t disappear, but those former ways they were known by were superseded by a new identity as a Christian believer. Coming to faith in Christ meant that there was a hope for the future, as part of a community of faith which offered the same radical welcome that Jesus offered. The Church followed Jesus’ practice of breaking down the barriers which divide one person or group from another. The Church’s message was, essentially, “Come as you are, but be prepared to be changed”.

Today, the nation observes a new national holiday, Juneteenth, which celebrates the message to slaves in Texas that they were free from slavery. On June 19, 1863[3], Union General  Gordan Granger issued an order, freeing the slaves held in Texas from their bondage. His action followed the Emancipation Proclamation, which President Abraham Lincoln had issued in September, 1862, and which went into effect on January 1, 1863. Those today who are descendants of slaves brought to these shores from Africa and elsewhere remember this day with fondness, and its observance dates back quite a few years.[4]

How might the Church today regard Juneteenth and its significance to marginalized and oppressed peoples, both here in our nation and elsewhere in the world?

Perhaps the early Church’s model provides an excellent model for us to implement.

We could, for example, remember that Jesus’ concern and care was most often directed toward the poor, the down-and-out, and the oppressed of the earth. (No wonder that Luke is so fascinated by the overturning of the tables of normal expectations as the poor are lifted up, while the high and the mighty are sent away empty![5]

Then we would do well to recall that the early Church offered a radical welcome, a welcome that declared that each person who had come to faith in Christ now had put on a new identity, a child of God. That new identity superseded whatever former identity that new believer had, even though that one’s former way of being known didn’t disappear. The emphasis in the early Church was on the unity which Christ brings. Such a unity is possible only through personal conversion of heart and mind in each individual believer.

Allowing God’s Holy Spirit to work to make these things a reality doesn’t require another church program. Allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and minds brings about personal conversion in our attitudes, our behaviors, and our approach to and regard for others, particularly those who might differ from us in one way or another. Allowing the Spirit to work ensures that the Church today won’t be “Balkanized” into separate groups whose identity might seem to take precedence over our oneness in Christ.

AMEN.       

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[1]   To add to the mystery of which community was the man’s former one is the fact that, in biblical times, there were two towns which were known by the name Gerasa. One was located on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, while the other one was located about 34 miles southeast of the sea. Today, the Gerasa which was located further southeast is known as Jerash, which is one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the world. It seems logical to believe that, if the man had come from Gerasa, it would have been the one which was located closer to the sea.

[2]   Sometimes, in the Bible, a person’s condition was attributed to possession by demons or by some sort of evil power. Demonic possession is real, and isn’t to be discounted. However, at other times, it’s possible that a person’s condition was due to mental illness.

[3]   The Civil War ended about two months before General Gordon’s order. But apparently Texas, which was at the edge of the former Confederacy, had few Union troops, so the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation took awhile to become reality.

[4]   Some observances date to the nineteenth century. Texas has observed it since 1938, while that state formally recognized Juneteenth as a state holiday in 1979. It became a national holiday in 2021.

[5]   I think here of Mary’s Song, the Magnificat, which celebrates the role reversals inherent in Jesus’ message. See Luke 1:46 - 55.

Trinity Sunday, Year C (2022

Proverbs 8:1 – 4, 22 – 31 / Psalm 8 / Romans 5:1 – 5 / John 16:12 – 15

 

This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, June 12, 2022.

 

“THE HOLY TRINITY: GOD’S GIFT OF SELF-REVELATION”

On Trinity Sunday (today), one approach we might would be for us to consider how God could be One God in Three Persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Or, we might consider the history of the Church’s reflection on God’s revealing acts as the Father sends the Son, and then the Holy Spirit is given.

Instead of those approaches, let’s engage in reflecting on God’s gift of self-revelation. For what we know about God comes from God’s own revealing acts. God has been at the business of peeling back the layers of mystery which surround Him since the very beginning of God’s interaction with humankind. God’s actions to inform us about his nature, identity, power, love and care for the world He created, and for us humans, whom He also created, can be viewed as one great, big gift, given to us.

We might begin with God’s gift of creation itself. The more we learn about the created order, the more we realize how intricately interconnected it all is. The sheer complexity of all of creation, and its beauty, must surely be the work of the creator God. Humankind has observed this creative process and God’s hand in it since the beginning of time.

As human societies grew, God reached out in self-revelation in a number of ways. For example, in Holy Scripture we read that God spoke to Abraham and told him to leave his home and his relatives, and to go to a place that God would show him. Later on, God appointed Moses to lead His people out of bondage in Egypt.  Along the way to the promised land, God gave His people the Law. Once in the promised land, God’s people depended on judges and on prophets to discover God’s truth and God’s desires for them.

Then, in the fulness of time, God sent His Son, Jesus the Christ, to reveal more fully God’s nature. By the things Jesus did, the things He said, the miracles He did, and – most especially – in His suffering, death and rising to new life again on Easter Sunday morning, Jesus showed us that He, too, along with the Father, has the power to create and to re-create. In answer to Philip’s demand that Jesus “show us the Father”, Jesus says that, if you have seen me, “you have seen the Father”. (John 14:9) God’s gift of self-revelation tells us that God cared enough to enter the depths and the heights of human experience, His divine nature taking up our humanity to the full.

At last, God’s acts to reveal to us His nature is completed with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the feast of Pentecost. There, the Spirit comes with discernable signs, like the rush of a mighty wind, and tongues of fire which appeared above the heads of each one of the disciples gathered on that day, and with the ability, given to each one gathered, to speak a foreign language unknown to them beforehand.

In all of these things, it’s important to keep in mind that God’s nature is unchanging, meaning that God’s identity has always been the same. What changes over time is that God chooses to reveal more and more of His identity to us in various ways and by various means.

What do we do with this wonderful and enduring gift? Here, I think, re-gifting is expected, even demanded. Put another way, we receive the gifts of God’s revelation, and we benefit and are changed by those gifts. But these divine gifts aren’t meant to be preserved as our own, private treasure. On the contrary, sharing those gifts with others is expected of each Christian believer. We affirm this in our Baptismal Covenant, when we promise to God that we will “proclaim by word and deed the Good News of God in Christ”. (Book of Common Prayer, page 305)

AMEN.

           

           

The Feast of Pentecost (Whitsunday), Year C (2022)

Acts 2:1 – 21 / Psalm 104:25 – 35, 37  / Romans 8:14 – 17 / John 14:8 – 17, 25 – 27

 

This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, June 5, 2022.

 

“FIRE: PROPERTIES OF GOD AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”

(Homily text:  Acts 2:1 – 21)

 

Each year, the feast of Pentecost offers us a chance to consider the nature and the work of the Holy Spirit, for we are treated to the account of the coming of the Holy Spirit on this day, as the Spirit descended on those who had gathered together. The Spirit’s coming was marked, Luke tells us[1], with the sound of a mighty wind and with something like tongues of fire that appeared over the heads of each one gathered.

The presence of fire should tell us something about the Holy Spirit’s power, and about the identity of the Spirit as an integral part of the God-head. (We will have more to consider next week as we concentrate on God’s identity as Father, Son and Holy Spirit on Trinity Sunday.)

Fire, in the Bible, is a marker for God’s presence. Consider, for example, the presence of fire in the burning bush as Moses was passing by that bush. (See Exodus, chapter three.) Then, as the Israelites were leaving their bondage in Egypt, a pillar of fire led them by night (and a cloud led them by day), as we read a bit later on in Exodus.[2] Then, when God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, the mountain was covered with smoke and fire.[3] In the Old Testament prophet Malachi’s words, God is portrayed as having a “refiner’s fire” which will purify the sons of Levi (the priests who served in the Temple).[4]

The properties of fire inform us about God’s power, and – in the case of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit’s power, for there are clues in each of these incidents cited above. Fire has the ability to purify. It has the power to protect (through its power to purify). It has the ability to change things (like changing water into boiling water or into steam).

God’s Holy Spirit works in our hearts and minds, gradually purifying us (if we allow the Spirit to do those things), and changing us into the image and likeness of God.

God’s Holy Spirit has the power to protect us, by making us aware of the presence of evil and of the power of evil.

God’s Holy Spirit has the power to change things, to move us in a different direction, or to enable us to do God’s will (and to know that will). That, in essence, is what happened at Pentecost, when devout Jews from all over the known world had gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. There, the Holy Spirit made its presence known by enabling the disciples to speak in the native languages of those gathered. The purpose was to enable the Good News of God, made known in Christ, to spread throughout the world.

We would do well to bear in mind the Spirit’s methods and ways.

Sometimes, the Spirit is a gentle, supporting presence, a force from God which comforts us in times of distress or trouble, protecting us just as that pillar of fire protected the Israelites from the Egyptian army which had pursued them and was intent on destroying them as they made their way out of slavery in Egypt.

At other times, however, the Spirit barges into our lives with power and with discernable, unmistakable signs. Those who received the Spirit’s power at Pentecost would surely affirm that they were the passive receivers of the Spirit’s overpowering presence. Yet, the Spirit’s descent moved those who’d received it, changing them and enabling them to do things they wouldn’t have been able to do on their own.

And, at still other times, the Spirit intercedes in our lives, convicting us of ways and thoughts which do not bring credit to God’s presence in our lives. We know these ways by a word which isn’t too welcome in the age in which we live: Sin. In such times and circumstances, the Spirit refines and purifies, just as those priests of old were warned that God is like a “refiner’s fire”.

AMEN.

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[1]   Luke is the author of the Book of Acts, and also of the Gospel account that bears his name.

[2]   Exodus 13:17 - 22

[3]   Exodus 19:18

[4]   Malachi 3:2