Trinity Sunday, Year C (2025)

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

This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 15, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“GOD’S SELF-REVELATION AS FATHER, SON & HOLY SPIRIT”

(Homily text:  John 16: 12–15)

The transition from the Easter season, which ends with the Feast of Pentecost, to the season after Pentecost is made by taking some time to reflect on God’s nature as the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In a very real sense, the design of the Church Year is a good one, for – from the beginning of the year in Advent until the conclusion of the Easter season, we’ve been thinking about and reflecting on the events in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Even the Feast of Pentecost (last Sunday) fits into the narrative about our Lord’s coming, His ministry and His work, culminating in His announcement that – after His departure to return to the Father – He would send the Holy Spirit to lead His followers into all truth.

Now, as we enter the Season after Pentecost (which occupies about half of the year, until late November), we bear in mind that the God we love and serve is the Holy Trinity, the Three-in-One divine mystery.

With this thought in mind, let’s explore some aspects of God’s nature in this mystery.

Mystery is good word with which to start. For God’s nature in one Union but with three Persons doesn’t make sense from our human point-of-view. Indeed, we should say that we know and understand God’s nature only in part this side of heaven.

But what we do know about God and about God’s nature is due to God’s own revelation of His nature. So, I think the question naturally arises: Do we know all there is to know about God’s nature? The answer is surely “No”. But then, can we say that we know enough upon which to base our faith and to walk in relationship with this Triune God? There, I think, the answer is surely “Yes”.

Since we’ve mentioned the word “revelation”, we ought to take a moment to affirm God’s revelation as the Creator God. In the Genesis creation account, chapter one, we read of this creative power. The text tells us that “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form and void. Darkness covered the face of the deep. The Spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.”[1]

The Christian faith sees in this account the three Persons of the Holy Trinity: God as Father and Creator, the eternal Word spoken (“Let there be light’) and the Spirit of God.

Now, let’s look at a passage from the beginning of John’s Gospel account:[2]  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Notice the parallels between the Genesis account and the beginning of John’s account, parallels of the Word, who is eternal with the Creator God, the Word spoken which creates, and the presence of light. A bit later on in the same chapter from John’s account, the Word is identified as Jesus Christ. (Verse seventeen.)

Now that we’ve folded our Lord Jesus Christ into our considerations, we would do well to say that it was the Lord’s coming among us that assisted our human understanding of God’s nature, and, indeed, prompted later Christian reflection on the nature of the Godhead. The Lord used the language of human relationship to describe His relationship to God, using the words “Father” and “Son”. Such language is quite prominent in John’s account.

One of the markers of divine power and activity is the power to create and to re-create. We see this in the Genesis creation account. Jesus Christ possessed that power and demonstrated it in His healings, in His feeding of large crowds, and in His raising of the dead to life (to cite but a few examples). The Holy Spirit, as well, demonstrates this creative power in the events at Pentecost, when the disciples were gifted with the ability to communicate with others in languages they did not know.

In our Gospel text, appointed for this morning, the Lord tells His disciples that He will send them the Spirit of truth, who will lead them into all truth and will make know to them all that the Father has made known to the Son.

This passage seems to indicate a relationship in which the Father sends the Son, informs the Son about the Father’s will, and then the Son sends the Holy Spirit, who will continue to inform the disciples of all that the Father has made known. It would be possible to infer from this that there is some sort of a higher/lower relationship in the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Another way to see this relationship is one of procession, with the Father sending the Son, and the Son, in turn, sending the Spirit.

The understanding of God’s nature as Father, Son and Holy Spirit emerges very early in the Church’s life. In Matthew 28: 19–20, we read that Jesus’ disciples are to baptize in the “name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And in II Corinthians 13:14, St. Paul concludes his letter by saying that “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”.

These two scriptural citations are about as close as we can get in Holy Scripture to a description of the Triune God.

As time went along, the early Church, enabled, enlightened and led by the Holy Spirit, reflected on God’s self-revelation, especially in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Eventually, a word came into being to describe God’s nature as the Three-in-One: “Trinity”. Theophilis of Antioch, sometime in the late second century, is credited with its creation.

The Church’s two major Creeds affirm God’s nature, using a Trinitarian formula to do so. The first paragraph centers on God the Father. The second paragraph centers on the person and work of the Son, while the third paragraph has to do with the Holy Spirit.

The Church would, over time, understand that the three Persons of the Holy Trinity are completely and totally united, but with some differentiation in their identities.

The challenge for us, as Christian believers, is to grapple with the immensity and the majesty of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As we do so, one point we should remember is that when we think about or consider the presence and work of one Person of the Holy Trinity, the other two Persons are also, always, present. (To think of the three Persons separately is known as “modalism”, whereby thought is given to the “modes” in which the Persons operate, or are considered, separately.)

One final thought is worth adding: As mysterious and as powerful and as full of grandeur this Three-in-One God is, that same God seeks to be in relationship with each and every one of us. That same Three-in-One God cares deeply for each individual.

Talk about a mystery!  There is, perhaps, the ultimate mystery, that God loves us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN.

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[1]   Genesis 1: 1–3

[2]   John 1: 1-5

Pentecost, Year C (2025)

Genesis 11: 1–9 / Psalm 104: 24–34, 35b / Acts 2: 1–21 / John 14: 8–27  

The is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 8, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“GOD’S ‘CORRECT’ BUTTON”

(Homily texts:  Genesis 11: 1–9 & Acts 2: 1–21)

Whenever I have to address an envelope, or to write something that others will need to be able to read, I use a typewriter. No, not an old, mechanical one like an old Underwood, but an electric one. The reason I use one of these things is because my handwriting isn’t at all good. In fact, it’s terrible, and worst of all, it’s getting worse as time goes along.

I can’t use a typewriter without having correcting ribbon in the machine. The reason for that is that my typing skills aren’t all that good, either. (In fact, I am self-taught…I can manage, but sometimes typing is a real challenge.)

As I think about the history of God’s dealing with human beings, I think that God must need to have a whole lot of correcting ribbon in the typewriter of His plans and desires for humankind.

Consider, for example, the two accounts of people speaking the same language, or speaking different languages that are before us this morning.

Our Old Testament reading relates to us the tale of the building of the Tower of Babel, while our reading from Acts informs us about the Holy Spirit’s gift of being able to speak in different languages.

In the Genesis account, we read that the whole human race spoke the same language. And so, those ancient peoples decided to make a name for themselves by erecting a tower that would reach to the heavens. When God sees this activity, and – more importantly – the motivation for it, He decides to confound their speech, making them speak different languages so they couldn’t understand one another, and – in the process – couldn’t manage to do anything they set their minds to.

In the Acts reading, recounting to us the coming of the Holy Spirit with discernable and powerful signs of His presence, people who spoke the same language were suddenly able to speak languages they had not previously known. The purpose of the Spirit’s gifting is obvious: It provides a tool to spread the Good News of what God had done in the sending of Jesus Christ.

Notice the correction to the human condition and to human behavior: In the Genesis account, those tower-builders were out to make a name for themselves, to promote their own glory. In the Pentecost event, God is glorified by the spreading of the Good News.

God does, indeed, have a “correct” button, and plenty of correcting ribbon as He deals with us human types.

The pages of Holy Scripture are filled with accounts of people who interacted with God, but who needed “fixing” in some way or another.

This last point brings us back to the Pentecost event.

We read Peter’s sermon, delivered on Pentecost, in our reading from Acts this morning. Gone from Peter’s character and behavior are his bumbling ways, and his inability to understand what God was doing in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God has corrected the text of Peter’s life, and now his speech is clear, and it is powerful.

We should ask, “What does all this have to do with me, and how does it inform my walk with God?”

That’s always a question that ought to be in our minds and hearts, and on our lips. After all, one of the purposes of Holy Scripture is to inform us about God’s nature and God’s ways, and to relate to us the ways that God has dealt with those He has chosen to be His emissaries to the world in ages past. In those sacred pages, we read of the successes, the mistakes, and the outright failures of those chosen ones. But we also read about God’s determined efforts to correct and fix what was less-than-useful for His divine purposes in those He had chosen to be His servants and witnesses.

So, too, will this same dynamic work its way out in our own lives: God will patiently correct, form, mold and shape us so that we can fulfill that divine plan that God has in mind. To be sure, the Holy Spirit has a major role to play in this process, as the Spirit did on Pentecost. The Spirit’s power to inform, to convict, to correct, to empower, and to enlighten is the same yesterday and today, and it will be the same until the end of time.

Thanks be to God for His patience, for His forbearance, and for His insistence on correction and amendment of life, so as to fit us out and make us into instruments of His divine will and purpose.

AMEN. 

Easter 7, Year C (2025)

Acts 16: 16–34 / Psalm 97 / Revelation 22: 12–14, 16–17, 20–21 / John 17: 20–26

This is the homily that was prepared for Flohr’s Evangelical Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania for Sunday, June 1, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“CONNECTIONS & CONNECTIVITY”

(Homily text: John 17: 20–26)

Ever think about the things that tie things together, or which connect them?

For example, we could mention such everyday items as string, or rope, or bolts, or screws, or nails. Each and all of these are unremarkable in and of themselves. But, they have their worth, their purpose and their value in their ability to connect or tie other things that are more valuable together.

So it seems as though there’s some sort of a back-and-forth, mutually dependent relationship between these connectors and the things they connect.

The same could be said about our relationship to Christ, to one another as Christian believers, and of the relationship between Jesus Christ, as the Father’s Son and the Father Himself.

All of these interconnections are mentioned in our Gospel text, appointed for this morning. It is part of what has come to be known as Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer”, which occupies all of chapter seventeen of John’s Gospel account.[1]

Jesus’ connection to the Father makes it possible for Him to relate to us all that the Father has told Him and has appointed Him to tell us. Absent that connection, there’d be no need to pay attention to what Jesus has to say to us (except, of course, if we believe that Jesus was simply a remarkable human being, and a great teacher in His own day…sadly, some Christians regard the Lord in just that way).

If we think about it, what the Lord has to say in this prayer is also addressed in chapter fifteen, where He tells us that He is the vine, and we are the branches. This is (at least to my mind) another way of saying that the vine and the branches are connected, one to another. It is that connection that makes fruitful ministry and work possible. In this description, Jesus makes a point of highlighting two important items: The vine and the branches, Then, of course, it isn’t just these two critical parts of the plant, it’s also the connection between them which allows them to function and to produce fruit.

Our Lord prays that all who claim His Name will be one, even as He and the Father are one.

What does/might this “oneness” look like in the world we live in today?

Does it mean that the Church (defined as the Body of Christ, composed of all who have come to faith in the Lord) should be organically one?

Perhaps that isn’t a realistic goal. Perhaps history will tell us that the Church, even in its very early times, was never organically, completely unified into one structure. The very early Church’s structure derived from its allegiance to and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ and the God who had sent Him into the world.[2]

History will also tell us that having the Church organically unified, and under the leadership of one person, isn’t necessarily good thing.

Today, we – all of us who claim the Name of Christ – are children of the Protestant Reformation. That is to say, that following the events of the early sixteenth century, the Church is now divided into many different “families” or “communities”. In times past, and not too long ago, major portions of this faith community wouldn’t have much or even anything to do with one another.

Thankfully, those times are – largely though not completely – behind us. Now, interfaith cooperation is much more common than it used to be. Roman Catholics engage in joint ministries with other Christians. Isn’t this a good thing!  Isn’t is a move in the right direction? Yes, indeed it is.

What can we hope for, given the state of the Church today? What is possible, what is desirable?

My own personal answer would be that we should continue to pursue mutual recognition of the validity and the value of differing expressions of the Christian faith (provided, I would add, that such an expression is faithful to the deposit of faith that has been transmitted to us).  Cooperation between differing faith communities should be encouraged.

At the same time, I think that each faith tradition brings with it certain strengths, certain benefits from which other Christians could learn.

After all, when we get to heaven, it is certain that denominational walls will disappear. There, we will be one in the Father’s presence, and in the Son’s presence, too.

It’d be a good idea for us – all of us – to practice our oneness this side of Paradise. It’s worth remembering that the world around us is watching (at least to some degree), so when we value our oneness in Christ, then we are able to fold into this connection others who, in their turn, will also serve as connections to the Lord with still others who will come to faith.

AMEN.

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[1]   John devotes five chapters to relating to us things that happened during the Last Supper, devoting chapters thirteen through seventeen to those events.

[2]   Previously, I’ve mentioned Raymond Brown’s book “The Churches the Apostles Left Behind” as a source to understand the varieties of worship, theological emphases, and organization that marked the very early Church. Brown’s conclusion, based on a careful reading of the New Testament scriptures, was that there were no less than seven different models of what the Church looked like in its formative years.

Easter 6, Year C (2025)

Acts 16:  9–15 / Psalm 67 / Revelation 21: 10; 22 – 22: 5 / John 14: 23–29

This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, May 25, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“REMINDERS”

(Homily text: John 14: 23–29)

Reminders.

They are everywhere, and they assist us to make our way, day-by-day, through life, enabling us not to forget the things we ought to do, the stuff we need to take with us, and the values we cherish which shape and mold us into the persons we should be.

So, for example, a reminder might be that object that we put on the floor just inside the door, so that when we leave, we will have to walk over it to get where we’re going (one of my favorite tricks, by the way, and quite effective!). Another example might be that photo on the wall of someone who’s been influential in our lives at some point or another. Still another example might be an object, given as a gift by someone who’s role in our lives manages to cast a favorable shadow over us today. One more example might suffice to illustrate the point: That person who writes on their hands in ball point ink the things they hope to do or to remember during the day. (When asked about this practice, and when told that there is paper for such things, the individual said that, yes, there is paper upon which to write a list of the tasks for the day, but then they manage to misplace or lose the paper, thereby also losing the “to-do” list.)

In our Gospel text, appointed for this day, our Lord Jesus Christ tells His disciples that He will - once He has returned to the Father - send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, who will lead them into all truth, and will remind them of all that He has taught them.

(Before we dig into this a bit, let’s recall that this portion of John’s Gospel account recalls and relates those things that the Lord said and did during the Last Supper.[1] We would also do well to remember that – in John’s account – the Holy Spirit is addressed as “Advocate”, a term that carries with it a legal association, much like an attorney would who stands alongside a client in a courtroom.)

Let’s notice the two points that the Lord makes about the work and the role of the Spirit: We might begin by noticing that the Lord says that this Advocate will lead us into all truth.

This is the truth that comes from the Father, and which has been given to the Son. (Recall our Lord’s statement in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one”.)

The second thing to notice is that the Lord tells those original Twelve, He will be going away. But, He says, the Holy Spirit will be the transmitter and the maintainer of truth. That same Spirit will remind those original Twelve of the things that the Lord had told them during the time of His earthly sojourn.

The repository of what the Lord had said and done – for us as Christian believers today – is Holy Scripture, the Bible.

A question arises: Do we think of Holy Scripture as a set of reminders?

It is, of course. In its pages are the accounts of what Jesus said and did during the time of His ministry. Also in its pages are the accounts of the successes and the failures of the heroes of Scripture. Yes, it’s all there: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Truth-telling, to be sure, and one reason to trust the voice of Scripture, for it lays bare the ways in which the ones whom God had chosen to do His will over time didn’t make the grade. There’s no whitewashing the deeds and the lives of the saints. Most of them (though not all) have mistakes – sometimes really bad ones – in the record of their lives and their walk with God.

Those missteps are reminders for us today, saying (in effect): Learn from the experience of so-and-so.

The lives of the saints (and here, I think of those saints we would address with a capital “S”, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and so forth) are reminders. Their faithfulness ensures that we are, to some degree or another, their spiritual offspring.

Those in the Church with whom we associate and with whom we worship Sunday-by-Sunday and with whom we serve are reminders. We see in others how God is moving and working in their lives. Those successes (and yes, the shortcomings, too) are reminders of God’s will and God’s ways.

One final point might be worth mentioning: As the Church moves forward into the years which lie ahead, it would be easy for it to forget those essentials of the faith upon which it was founded. It’d be easy to wander off into this cause or that one, to set up idols (defined as anything that takes God’s rightful and central place in our devotion and attention) of any number of worthwhile endeavors. To avoid this misstep, reminders, such as those that Holy Scripture and the assistance of the Holy Spirit, are vital.

AMEN.

 

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[1]   In John’s account, chapters thirteen through seventeen

Easter 5, Year C (2025)

Acts 11:1–18 / Psalm 148 / Revelation 21:1–6 / John 13:31–35

This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, May 18, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“COOTIES AND OTHER DISGUSTING STATES”

(Homily texts:  Acts 11:1 – 18 & John 13:31 – 35)

As people relate to one another, and particularly as they get to know one another well, some level of back-and-forth banter often begins to take place. For example, there might be some sort of mild teasing. Or, some sort of an “in” joke might develop among these friends as their relationship develops.

Grade school children often do this with their classmates. Recall in your own life experiences your time in grade school…did you accuse other people of having “cooties”? One way I recall this word being used was to say that boys had “boy cooties”.

In today’s reading from the Book of Acts, St. Peter is being accused of hanging around with Gentiles. The party within the Church that advocated the strict adoption of all the requirements of the Law of Moses (Torah) were essentially saying to Peter, “You shouldn’t be hanging around with those Gentiles. Don’t you know that they have cooties?”

As the young Church grew, it – and the Good News of God in Christ that it carried and shared with others – was bound to attract a wide range of people, including Gentiles. The question before the Church was to determine who could become a member of this new movement, and on what grounds could they be admitted.

So serious was this matter that a council was convened to sort out the various approaches to this subject. You can read about it in chapter fifteen of the Book of Acts. The council met in Jerusalem in the year 49 AD.

It’s interesting to note how Luke (the writer not only of the Gospel account which hears his name, but also the Book of Acts) describes those who were accusing Peter of bad behavior by hanging around with non-Jews. Luke uses the term “circumcision party”. We will see this term again in chapter fifteen as Luke describes the decision-making process that took place at the Council of Jerusalem. We also read, in Acts 15:5, that it was the party of the Pharisees who were maintaining that a person couldn’t enter the Church unless they adhered to all the requirements of the Law of Moses.

(Did you know that the early Church was composed of varying sorts of people and groups? Furthermore, it’s worth noting that – though the early Church was united in its witness to Christ – the Church varied from place-to-place in its method of organization, theological emphases, and so forth.[1])

The decisions that were reached at the Council of Jerusalem amount to a series of compromises. (Surprising? Shouldn’t be, I don’t think...the Church, at various times in its life, has had to make compromises on a number of issues.) I commend to your reading and contemplation the account of the proceedings at the Council of Jerusalem:  Acts 15:1 – 29.

As we think about the convictions of those of the “circumcision party”, we might come to the conclusion that they had missed something – something important – in Jesus’ own conduct and His decisions about whom to associate with.

Our Lord hung around with some pretty disreputable types: Tax collectors, prostitutes, and – yes – Gentiles. Recall the Lord’s encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman.[2]  This woman confronts Jesus’ own perspective, challenging Him to see that God’s intent was to fold into the divine plan not only Jews, but also non-Jews, Gentiles.

Moreover, the Lord’s consistent message, during His earthly ministry, was one of outreach, and one of love. (See today’s Gospel reading for our Lord’s emphasis on the requirement to love.) Possessing such a love will be – our Lord says – a marker of discipleship.

If we think about it, we all, every one of us, have “spiritual cooties”. We – in our unredeemed state – are separated from God by our sinful nature. Holy Baptism is the means by which that unclean state is washed away, and we are raised to a new life.[3]

The decisions reached at the Council of Jerusalem amount to a radical welcome to those who had come to faith in Christ, but who were not blood descendants of Abraham.  The Council affirms our Lord’s call to amendment of life in its decisions. The early Church, in its radical welcoming of all persons, also maintained that becoming a follower of Jesus meant that there would be changes in life, a change in perspective, growth in the faith, and an abandonment of the ways of that life that existed before coming to the Lord.

Maintaining a balance between the radical welcome that marked the early Church’s life, along with its insistence on a new and holy way of living, one that was marked with the pattern set by our Lord, isn’t easy. In our own day, such a balance is often missing, either by those who think the Church is a country club for saints, or by those who think that “anything goes” for those who are welcomed into the fellowship of Christ’s body.

AMEN.

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[1]   With regard to the makeup of the early Church, I commend to you an excellent book by the New Testament scholar (and Roman Catholic priest) Raymond Brown, who maintained that there were no less that seven different models of Church organization and outlooks in the early years of the Church’s existence. His book (still available) is “The Churches the Apostles Left Behind”.

[2]   See Mark 7:24 – 30.

[3]   See St. Paul’s description of Baptism in Romans 6:3 – 9. 

Easter 4, Year C (2025)

Good Shepherd Sunday - Acts 9: 36-43 / Psalm 23 / Revelation 7: 9–17 / John 10: 22–30

This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, May 11, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“CONECTEDNESS”

(Homily texts:  Acts 9: 36–43 & John 10: 22–30)

Ever since I was a very young boy, I have been fascinated by – and in love with – steam locomotives and railroads in general.

I am old enough to remember these great big machines pulling passenger and freight trains across the Nebraska prairies. (It is gratifying to know that, nowadays, there are many younger people who can’t remember steam engines in service on the railroads of the country, but who are fascinated by them – as I am – and who are learning to care for, operate and maintain them.)

A steam engine – or a diesel locomotive these days – has no real purpose without something to pull. They might be wonderful to look at in a museum, or, they might be something to be admired from a technical standpoint. But the purpose of a locomotive is to move things. Freight cars and passenger cars can’t move themselves (unless – in the case of passenger cars – they are self-propelled somehow). So there is a symbiotic relationship between the source of the power to move things and the things that are being moved. One is dependent upon the other for its purpose and usefulness.

It strikes me that this is a good way to view the relationship between God (yes, that God whom Jesus Christ called His Father), Jesus Christ, and those who have come into relationship with the Father, the Son (and the Holy Spirit). Simply put, we might say that God the Father is the designer of the power to change things. Sort of like the designer of a great locomotive. (Hope this does justice to God the Father’s power and care for the world and the people in it!)

It is this God who sent Jesus Christ to be among us, to show us the way to God. In our Gospel reading, appointed for this Good Shepherd Sunday, we read our Lord’s statement, “I and the Father are one.” Meaning, of course, that the Father and the Son are connected. If we can make further use of our railroad analogy, we might say that the Son mirrors the design and the will of the Father, in much the same way that a locomotive mirrors the will and the design of its designer. No wonder then, that in John’s Gospel account, we read that the Son says that all that the Father has given Him is that which He has made known to us. (See John 15:15b.)

One-ness with the Father and the Son makes it possible for God’s will and God’s ways to be known in the world. So it is that we hear the account of Peter’s raising of Tabitha (Dorcas) in our first reading this morning.  Having come into a relationship with the Son, Peter’s connectedness to Jesus enables God’s power and God’s will to be known in the world. Recall that one of the markers of God’s activity is God’s ability to create and to re-create. In this case, God’s power is known in bringing Dorcas back to life again. Peter’s one-ness with the Lord makes God’s power manifest.

You and I, as modern-day disciples, follow in a great train (there’s that railroad imagery again!) of the Apostles, the great Saints and Martyrs, who have borne witness to God’s ability to create and to re-create. God’s power to make all things new destroys the ways of the Evil One, whose intent is to separate us from God, the God who is the source of all life and all that is honorable and true.

Only by maintaining our connection to God the Father through God the Son, may we be agents of God’s creative and re-creative power in the world.

AMEN.

  

Easter 3, Year C (2025)

Acts 9: 1–20 / Psalm 30 / Revelation 5: 11–14 / John 21: 1–19

This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday May 4, 2025, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“TURN AROUND!”

(Homily texts: Acts 9: 1–20 & John 21: 1–19)

A good many years ago, when I was a member of the U. S. Army Chorus (which is part of the U. S. Army Band in Washington, DC), we were scheduled to sing for a high-level military event. Because it was a very high-level event, there were many General officers in attendance.

For events like this, the usual practice was for there to be a break in the events following the evening’s dinner and whatever items there were to discuss. Then, after the break, the Chorus would perform.

On that particular evening, the Sergeant Major of the Chorus lined us up in the hallway as it was getting to be time for us to sing. Mind you, many of these Generals were walking right past where we’d lined up, down the hallway. The Sergeant Major then realized that he’d lined us up backwards, and that we would have to reverse our position. Two options then presented themselves: We could either march our way around to the correct orientation, or we could simply, each one of us, turn around. Since there were so many people making their way down the hall, Option One wasn’t feasible. For some reason, the Sergeant Major couldn’t remember the order to turn us around. That should have been “Chorus, About Face”.  Instead, he said, “Chorus, turn around”. He couldn’t see the many Generals who were walking past him as he said this very un-military command, but we could. We were slightly embarrassed. (Fortunately, there were no repercussions from this incident, although many of us wondered what those Generals who might have heard that very un-military order might have thought of the Sergeant Major, or of us.)

“Turn Around!”

That’s the common thread which connects our reading from the Book of Acts, and the last chapter in John’s Gospel account. Both Saul (later to be known as Paul) and Simon Peter were in need of a turn-around. Both were heading in the wrong direction.

Saul (Paul) was dedicated to destroying this new movement of the followers of Jesus, known in those early days as The Way. He was on his way to the city of Damascus to find anyone who belonged to this new movement, and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.

On his way, a bright light shown from heaven, and a voice is heard, saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” The voice, of course, is that of Jesus.[1]

Now, the Lord begins to put together a plan to get Saul (Paul) going in the right direction. He informs a disciple named Ananias to find Saul (Paul), to lay hands on him and to restore his sight, and to baptize him.

It seems clear that the Lord looked down on Saul (Paul) and may have concluded that the spread of the Good News (Gospel) needed someone with the gifts that Saul (Paul) possessed. Those gifts were many: He was thoroughly familiar with the Law of Moses, and of the Old Testament Scriptures. He had studied with Gamaliel, one of the most prominent rabbis of the day. He was a Roman citizen, one who knew Greek, Hebrew, and, perhaps, also Aramaic and Latin. He was possessed of an enormous intellect. Moreover, the determination he had shown in pursuing the members of this new movement, The Way, would serve him well as he went out into the Gentile, non-Jewish world, carrying with him the Good News of what God had done in sending Jesus Christ. The Lord predicted the challenges that Saul (Paul) would face in carrying out God’s plan for spreading the Good News…when Ananias was told to find Saul (Paul), he objected, knowing his reputation. But the Lord told him, “Go, for he is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Gentiles, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name,” (Acts 9: 15–16)

Saul (Paul) did, indeed, turn around. We, today, are all the beneficiaries of his work and his faithfulness.

Now, let’s turn to Simon Peter’s circumstances.

Recall that Simon Peter had denied the Lord three times as Jesus had been arrested and was standing before Caiaphas, the High Priest. (The three denials take place around a charcoal fire.)

Peter and the other disciples are eyewitnesses of the Lord’s resurrection. But in today’s reading, we discover that Peter told some of the other disciples that he was going fishing. (We might wonder why he’d made that decision – and it’s important to note that Scripture doesn’t tell us the reasons – perhaps he was going fishing until some new developments had taken place, or perhaps because he thought that this new movement didn’t have a future.)

Whatever the motivation or reasoning, Peter and some of the other disciples are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. All night, they catch nothing. Then, a man on the shore tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. When the resulting large haul of fish begins to break the nets, it is the disciple whom Jesus loved (traditionally, this would be John) who recognized Jesus, saying, “It is the Lord!”.

Then, Peter’s turnaround takes place after breakfast, and around another charcoal fire. The Lord asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” The three questions mirror the three denials, and these three questions mark Peter’s restoration. They also mark Peter’s charge from the Lord to go in a new direction, putting away the uncertainties, the denials, and the bumbling ways that marked Peter’s relationship with the Lord prior to the resurrection, prior to these three penetrating questions, and prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you”, Peter answers.

Each of the three questions, “Do you love me” are followed by an instruction: 1. “Feed my lambs”; 2. Tend my sheep”; and 3. “Feed my sheep”.

Peter, like Saul (Paul) has work to do, work in the Lord’s kingdom, serving and following the Lord in a new direction.

We, today, are all the beneficiaries of Peter’s faithfulness and work.

These two mighty saints, whom we know today as St. Paul and St. Peter, stand as examples of the process that is an essential part of our walk with God.

The process is two-fold: 1. They each received a call from the Lord; and 2. They obeyed that call, with the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and strength.

That process comes to each of us, believers in the Lord’s resurrection, in the new life that that rising to new life guarantees to all who come to faith, and who seek to heed the Lord’s call, turning in a new direction in response to the Lord’s prompting.

Come, Lord Jesus, that we may hear and heed your call to go in a direction that you would have us go. Come, Holy Spirit, strengthen us and guide us into the paths the Lord would have us go.

AMEN.

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[1]   Apparently, Saul’s (Paul’s) conversion was important enough to the early Church that the account we read this morning from Acts, chapter nine, is repeated again in chapter twenty-six. 

Easter 2, Year C (2025)

Acts 5:27 – 32 / Psalm 150 /    Revelation 1:4 – 8 / John 20:19 – 31

This is the homily written for Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania for April 27, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor. (On this day, no formal sermon was given during the worship service.  Rather, the sermon time was used for an occasion of “Stump the Pastor” providing time for members of the congregation to ask questions -- either about the scripture lessons of the day, or regarding aspects of the faith which they may have been wondering about and/or wanting to ask.)

 

“THE RESURRECTION: MYTH -OR- MYTH?”

(Homily text: John 20: 19 – 31)

A word we use regularly is “myth”. When this word is used, it often (usually) means something that isn’t at all true.

But there’s another meaning to the word “myth”, one that we might not think of at all: Its other meaning is something that is ultimately true, or something that we might say is true with a capital “T”. Myth in this sense often employs a story or perhaps some weighty statement.

For example, to exemplify the ultimate truth of human dignity and equality, this statement is used: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (today, we would say all men and women) are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights….” (The Declaration of Independence). This lofty statement affirms the ultimate truth of the basic nature of all human persons.

Another example of “myth” in the sense of being ultimately true (with a capital “T”) might be C. S. Lewis’ story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. For Christian readers and viewers of the movie, it’s impossible not to see the redemption story of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lewis’ story relates the ultimate truth of Jesus Christ.

Hopefully, these are good illustrations of this use of the word “myth”.

This morning, we hear the account of the disciple Thomas’ encounter with the risen Christ, an event that took place eight days after Easter Sunday. (So, it’s especially appropriate that we hear and consider this account on this day.)[1]

Let’s recall what John tells us about Thomas, and his demand to come to believe that the resurrection actually happened.

We read that, on Easter Sunday, Thomas was not present when the Lord appeared to the other disciples. In the days which followed, those who had seen the Lord told Thomas about their encounter. Thomas replied that he wouldn’t believe their statements unless he, himself, was able to touch the Lord and to actually put his finger into the Lord’s wounds. (I think it’s appropriate, at this point, to say that Thomas was simply taking the approach that many of God’s people in that day and time took…they wanted to have proof, physical proof, of something before they would believe it to be true.[2])

Then, on the eighth day[3], Thomas is present with the others, and Jesus comes into the room, through the locked door. Jesus knows of Thomas’ demands.[4] He says to Thomas, “Put your finger here…”

Thomas’ demands, essentially, come down to this: Does he believe that Jesus’ resurrection is a myth, that is to say, something that isn’t true at all, and has no basis in fact. Or, is Jesus’ resurrection a myth in the sense of being True with a capital “T”?

Thomas’ demands and his need to have a basis upon which to believe is ours, as well.

There is a wonderful verse in this account…When Jesus asks Thomas if he has come to faith because he was able to physically see the Lord, then the Lord says “blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe”.

I don’t know about you, but I believe there’s an imaginary blank in that statement, one in which you and I can write our names, for we are those who have come to believe that the Lord did, actually and truly, rise from the dead on Easter morning, and we have come to believe and to know this to be true, even though we can see this reality through the lens of faith.

When we get to the place where we can write our own names in this imaginary blank in the Lord’s statement, wonderful things begin to happen. For, you see, accepting the resurrection as “myth” in the sense that it is the ultimate truth and the ultimate reality of the world’s history, opens to us an intense, personal and ongoing relationship with the fulness of God.

Coming to this place marks a new beginning in our walk with the Lord. There is no other way to begin the journey on the pathway of faith than to come to the place where we believe that the resurrection is a “myth”.

Thanks be to God.

AMEN.

 

 

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[1]   This encounter is so important that this Gospel text is appointed to be read on the Second Sunday of Easter in each of our three-year cycle of readings.

[2]   The same is true of many people today…they demand to have tangible proof of something before they will believe it to be true. They need to have physical, scientific proof, of something before they’ll believe it to be real and true.

[3]   I can’t resist saying that this event, which took place on the eighth day after the resurrection, marks a new beginning for Thomas. In Holy Scripture, the number eight signifies a new beginning to things.

[4]   All throughout John’s Gospel account, Jesus possesses knowledge that only God would know. This is a marker, in the Fourth Gospel, of Jesus’ one-ness with God the Father.

Easter (The Sunday of the Resurrection), Year C (2025)

Acts 10: 34–43 / Psalm 118: 1–2, 14–24 / Colossians 3: 1–4 / John 20: 1-18

This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on April 20, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“STUFF”

(Homily text: John 20: 1–18)

I like “stuff”. “Stuff” is such a useful word, one that can refer to so many different things. In fact, one of my members of my former church said that I use the word “stuff’ so much that he said he was going to get me a sweatshirt with the logo “I Like Stuff” on it.

We can use the word “stuff” in so many different ways. For example, when I’m taking my grandson to lacrosse practice, I might say to him, “You got your stuff”? Meaning, of course, does he have his helmet, his pads, his mouthguard, proper footwear, and the like.

Or, when my wife asks me what I’m doing, I might respond, “Stuff”, which could mean any number of things, perhaps, for example, miscellaneous tasks that I can’t really enumerate accurately. Or, using the word “stuff” might be a deliberate way to hide what I am doing, such as getting her birthday present.

So, you see, “stuff” is really a very useful word, one which could have specific meanings, or it could be nebulous, all-encompassing term.

We live in a world of “stuff”.

Some “stuff” isn’t alive, it’s inanimate. Take, for example, rocks, or maybe the soil in our fields and gardens. Ever think of how old that “stuff” must be? Wow!  And, of course, some creative force or power made all that “stuff” way back somewhere, somehow.

Some of the “stuff” of the world is living, but is basically inanimate. For example, the wood in our furniture in our homes came from a tree somewhere, sometime. The pulpit I am preaching from this morning is an example. Back in the beginning somewhere, sometime, the tree was created and was given life. That One who created the tree also gave it the ability to reproduce, so that we have trees today that we can fashion into various useful things.

Some other ‘stuff” is living, like bugs, or birds, or squirrels, or cats and dogs. Or human beings. All of these living things had a beginning sometime, somewhere. That creative force (for us who believe, that would be God, as we affirm in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, saying, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth…”) not only created these things, but gave them life. The creation accounts in the book of Genesis affirm this reality, telling us that God created these living things, and gave them life. The same is true of those first human beings…Genesis’ words are especially important, for the text tells us that God breathed the spirit of life into human beings.

The universal truth of the world in which we live is that when something that is alive is no longer alive, it cannot be made to live again. Of course, in the marvelous age in which we live, an age when so many medical advances have come along, it is possible for us to prolong life and to rescue life when – in an earlier age – such a life would have ceased to be.

But, even in the age in which we live, once someone has died, there is no bringing them back to life again.

The reason is that the ability, the power, to breathe life into a living thing belongs to God alone.

(I can’t resist saying that when someone begins a new chapter in their life, when they, essentially, come to life again, such as when they turn from an addiction and begin a new life free from whatever had claimed power over them, we can say that – quite likely - we see the hand of God at work in this new beginning, this new life. God’s power to create and to re-create is one of the markers of God’s power, activity and presence.)

Our Lord Jesus Christ lay dead in the tomb on this Easter Sunday morning. The fact that He was completely, totally dead is easy for us to accept, for His death was a public event, witnessed by many.[1] His death did not take place behind prison walls. The wounds He received make it clear that no one could have survived what had happened to Him.

And so, Mary and the other women came to the tomb on Easter Sunday morning, expecting to find a dead person. They came prepared to care for a deceased person whom they loved. After all, their expectation was that, once a person had died, there was no bringing them back to life again. They were gone, permanently.

Now, we return to the matter of the “stuff” of life, of giving life where there was no life. This is God’s power, God’s presence and God’s activity. It is the power that the Creator God, alone, possesses.

No wonder this reality is the central, most important part of our Christian faith. For it means that – if God could bring Jesus to life again – then that same Creator God can create new life in us. When we are spiritually dead, God’s Holy Spirit can breathe new life into us, making us over into a new, faith-filled person. No matter how spiritually dead we may have been, God can fan the flames of faith into a glowing tribute to God’s ability to create and to re-create.

Now, in this creative process, there is a critical difference to note: We have the ability to cooperate with God’s creative work, or to decline the invitation to work with God. Those other living things that we spoke about a few minutes ago didn’t/don’t have that ability: They were simply created, they didn’t have the ability to say “No”.

But though none of us had the ability to decline being born, we are given the power to say “No” to God as our lives unfold. We can choose to stand apart from God’s invitation to be created, or to be re-created anew.

But if we accept this wonderful invitation, then something miraculous and mysterious happens: We begin the process of being formed into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes, this process is difficult to explain, but we can see the markers of it when they are present.

The invitation to accept God’s offer is, basically, what we’re about here this morning, in this church, in God’s house. It is the invitation to allow God into the very inner and most personal parts of our lives, so that God can bring to life anything that has atrophied and died.

Thanks be to that Creator God, the One who brought to life again our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be to that same God who can bring new life to all who are willing to open their hearts to this divine initiative.

AMEN.

 

 

 

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[1]   Jesus’ death is also a matter of record from a non-Christian source: The first-century historian, Josephus, records Jesus’ death, and also reports that there were reports that He had risen from the dead.