Pentecost 11, Year A (2026)

I Kings 19: 9–18 / Psalm 85: 8–13 / Romans 10: 5–15 / Matthew 14: 22–33  

 

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 9, 2026, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.  

 

           

“SHOWING US WHERE THE ROCKS ARE”

(Homily text: Matthew 14: 22-33)

 

Let’s begin this morning with a bit of humor…

There were three ministers in a community who were very good friends and also were very good colleagues in ministry together. One day, one of the three proposed to the other two that it might be nice if they would rent a boat and go fishing together. Since they all had Mondays off, they chose a date and headed off to the country club.

The weather was quite nice for the occasion, and the three began their quest for fish. But the fish weren’t cooperating very well, and by midday, the sun was beating down on the three pretty hard.

So one of them said he was going to go into the club and get something to drink. Over the side of the boat he went, whereupon he seemed to walk along the top of the water. Sitting under the awning at the club, he began to enjoy his libation.

Not long afterward, the second of the three also said he was thirsty, and over the side of the boat he went. He, too, seemed to walk along over the top of the water. Reaching the club, he joined the first one.

The lone occupant of the boat, now seeing the other two in under the awning, enjoying some refreshment, determined that if the other two could manage to leave the boat and make their way to the shore, then he, too, could manage the same. So over the side of the boat he went. But immediately, he began to flounder in the water. The first one, seeing this unfold, calmly put his drink down and said to his colleague at the table, “Do you think we ought to show him where the rocks are?”

This bit of humor fits well with this morning’s Gospel reading. For in it, we read that Jesus walked on the water as the stormy seas were churning in the Sea of Galilee. If we consider the theological point of the account, we come to the conclusion that it is meant to tell us something about the powers that were at work in Jesus, powers that God alone possesses, powers over the created order. Recalling our Gospel reading from last week, the account of the feeding of the crowd of some 5,000 people, the basic theological truth is the same: Jesus has power over the creation.

Now, hold onto that thought as I offer a memory from an event that took place earlier this week …

Earlier this week, I conducted a memorial service for a former director of the U.S. Army Chorus, a group that I was a member of, at the Old Post Chapel on Ft. Myer, Virginia, which is adjacent to Arlington Cemetery. The former director’s two daughters were there, and they reminded me of a concert I had done with their father, many years before. I recalled the concert quite well, and shared a humorous aspect of what happened when we sang together, something I don’t think they knew about their dad.

Sharing that memory with them, sent my mind back to those days in my life. They weren’t entirely good memories. There was much turmoil and uncertainty back then.

But from the perspective of many years now, I can see that the Lord was present and was active in those troubling years. I didn’t know it at the time, but those difficult times didn’t have the final say in the direction of my life. No, God was at work, and one-by-one, one difficulty after another was overcome.

Looking back, I can say that, absent God’s presence and God’s ability to guide, to support, to create, to deal with a challenge, and then to work out the details of the next one, I’m not sure I would have made it through those trying times.

Now then, perhaps each of us could ask a question of ourselves, as we look back over the years of our lives: “When was it that the Lord showed us where the rocks were?”.

For surely, we all have need of the Lord’s support at various times as life unfolds.

Perhaps the Lord shows up when we don’t know what will happen next, or how we will face the events that seem to be headed our way

Perhaps deep loss comes our way.

Perhaps we seem to face so many challenges and so many difficult choices that we are paralyzed by the multitude of problems that seem to lie in our path.

Perhaps other ideas arise in our minds, and perhaps they are our own personal experiences and challenges.

It’s been said that we Christians are a “resurrection people”. That is to say, we worship, love and adore a God who creates, a God who brings order out of disorder, a God who is a God of new beginnings.

Perhaps it’d be helpful to remember those wonderful qualities that God possesses, and which He makes available to us, often at times when we can’t see His hand at work in the things that surround or beset us.

For, as St. Paul reminds us in chapter eight of his letter to the early churches in Rome, “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus”. (Romans 8:39)

Thanks be to God.

AMEN. 

Pentecost 10, Year A (2026)

Isaiah 55: 1–5 / Psalm 145: 8–9, 14–21 / Romans 9: 1–5 / Matthew 14: 13–21

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 2, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

 

“MIRACLES AND MYSTERIES”

(Homily text: Matthew 14: 13–21)

This morning, we hear the account of one of our Lord’s most well-known miracles, the feeding of a very large crowd of people (the Gospel writers tell us that it was composed of about 5,000 men, not counting women and children).

This miracle must have[1] been very important to the early Church, for all four Gospel writers relate this incident to us. In addition, Matthew records yet another miraculous feeding of a crowd of about 4,000 in chapter 15: 32–39.[2]

People over time have struggled to understand this event. Some can’t grasp the idea that Jesus did, just as the Gospel writers tell us that He did, actually multiply the loaves and the fishes so that all in the crowd were fed. The account tells us that the Lord’s work was so generous that twelve baskets of leftover food was gathered up. Some who cannot believe the account as it is presented to us maintain that people actually brought food for themselves, which they produced once the five loaves and two fish were presented. Other ideas for the actual events that unfolded have also been presented.

However, the importance of the account isn’t just the feeding of the crowd. The deeper meaning has to do with telling us something about Jesus’ identity as Son of God. The multiplication of the loaves and fishes is meant to steer us to the reality that Jesus has at His disposal all the creative abilities of God. Recall that, in the creation account in Genesis, God spoke and something came into being, something that didn’t exist beforehand. The miraculous feeding of that many people is of the same sort of stuff: The Lord created something out of almost nothing.

Now, just for the record, I accept as truth the accounts as they appear before us. I believe (and see through the eyes of faith) that Jesus actually did make use of those loaves and fish to feed a very large crowd of people.

That said, I also understand that this is a miracle, something that stands outside of our normal, everyday experience. In addition, it is also a mystery (at least to some degree) as to how the Lord actually multiplied the food.

If we think about it, much of our experience of God is the stuff of miracles. It is also the stuff of mysteries. For the purposes of this sermon, I am defining a mystery as something that we know works, we just don’t know how exactly.)

Let’s survey some of our experiences of God, looking for the miraculous aspects of it, and looking for the aspects that defy explanation.

We could begin with the starting point of our walk of faith with God. Why is it that it begins with our own self-emptying? What I mean is this: If we do not get to the point of saying something like, “Lord, help me, for I cannot help myself”, then the journey has gotten off on the wrong foot. For the requirement to begin from a point of utter helplessness, only to lead to a productive and wonderful walk with God that brings with it such meaning and depth is a mystery. Why should it begin that way? We don’t know. But what we do know is that the most wonderful and meaningful life in God begins this way. A mystery, but also a miracle.

As I reflect on this previous point, I am reminded that a complete self-emptying is the essential meaning of baptism. And, we ought to acknowledge, that as life unfolds, we will face continuing occasions in which we will have to admit our own helplessness. Another mystery, and also a miracle that God works in such a way as this.

Why is it that faith is so often a component in bringing God’s will into being? Think of the many times that the Lord told someone, “Your faith has made you well”. Faith is our response to God’s moving. But faith, if we, ourselves, try to make it happen, is usually just a counterfeit version of the real thing. For faith to arise within us, it seems as though the Holy Spirit will have to enter our hearts and minds in order to stir up the soil of our hearts and our minds so that faith can take root. Another miracle, that it happens at all, and a mystery as to why is works this way. But it often does, or – should I say – it happens this way more often than not.

We might back up a bit and wonder just why it is that God is willing to relate to us human beings at all. After all, if we’re honest about ourselves and the nature of the human race, we’re often cantankerous, often fickle, often undependable…think of the heroes in the Bible: Most of them have “clay feet” of some sort or another. Almost all of them had pimples. Almost all of them had warts. But God chose to relate to these sorts of people, and even chose to work through (and sometimes around) them. Another miracle, another mystery.

Then we could talk about God’s generosity. Why is it that God is so generous with us human beings? We surely don’t deserve it, but God’s nature, it seems, is to be generous. And not only that, God is also loving. Another mystery, and a miracle that blesses us throughout life.

One final example we might cite is the way in which God enters into a situation. Sometimes, He simply shows up. At other times, He barges in as He did with St. Paul on the road to Damascus. At still other times, He patiently waits (I think of the verse from the Book of Revelation, which reads, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them and eat with them, and they with me”[3]).

Perhaps, as we reflect on our life’s journey, and our walk with God, we can see other examples of God’s working, in miraculous and mysterious ways, ways we can’t fully understand, oftentimes, but ways that we know actually work.

For the God we love, worship, obey and walk with throughout life is a God of miracles, and a God who often works in mysterious ways.

Thanks be to God.

AMEN.

 

 

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[1]   In biblical times, it was common to count only the men. Today, of course, we would include the women and children.

[2]   Mark also records the feeding of the 4,000, while Luke and John do not.

[3]   Revelation 3:20 

Pentecost 9, Year A (2026)

I Kings 3: 5–12 / Psalm 86: 11–17 / Romans 8: 26–39 / Matthew 13: 31–33, 44–52

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 26, 2026, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“LOOKING FOR THE KINGDOM, AND DISCOVERING ITS RICHES”

(Homily texts:  I Kings 3: 5–12, and Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52)

Some years ago, there was a one-man show which traveled the country, entitled, “Defending the Caveman”.

The set for this show resembled something from the old television show which featured Fred Flintstone. The actor was also dressed in a costume that could have come from the same show.

The audience at the show laughed, usually one half at a time: The men would laugh at something, and then it was the women’s turn to do the same.

One subject from the show had to do with shopping habits, which – the actor maintained – differ from men to women.

The actor told the audience that the reason why men shop differently from women is attributable to ancient habits, which stem from the days of the cavemen.

So, for example, during the days of the cavemen, the actor said, the man would venture out from the cave, alone, his trusty spear in hand, to find and stalk the game that would be that evening’s dinner. Once the hunt was over, the man would drag his quarry back to the cave, whereupon it was the woman’s job to prepare it for dinner. This habit of singular focus on one thing leads men, in our own time, to go to the store in search of one, specific item. Once that item had been found, the search and the shopping were over. (And, the actor added, men will often go to the store again, seeking one, specific item.)

By contrast, the women, in the days of the cavemen, were back in the cave. Once the man was off to the hunt, the women would gather in a group, and they would venture forth from the cave in search of berries with which to adorn that evening’s dinner table. Together, the women would find berries, which they touched, smelled, and looked at, all the while comparing their observations one with another. This habit is the basis for women’s shopping habits today, for they venture forth to the stores in groups, where they look at the merchandise, feel it, look at it, and compare their observations, one with another.

The humorous aspects of these ideas aside, there’s are two pieces of wisdom in the scenario described above. (Recall that the ancient King Solomon prayed for wisdom, as we hear in our Old Testament lesson this morning.)  I think there’s some useful truths for us to consider as we think about our Lord’s parables about the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven.[1]

One useful truth for us to remember about the kingdom is that it is often small in nature, and sometimes hard to notice when it appears. Indeed, our Lord said, once, that people would know that the kingdom “was near”.[2] Some of the very brief parables we hear this morning ask us to consider that the kingdom is often seemingly hidden.

Perhaps we think of the kingdom, and its presence among us in grand and overpowering terms. Perhaps we equate the kingdom with the end of time, or – in Matthew’s terms – the end of the ages. That time when God’s will and God’s way will be in total control. Certainly, such a vision is never far from Matthew’s consciousness.

The Holy Scriptures affirm this vision of the kingdom, that time when God’s peace will reign over all things. That time when the “lion will lie down with the lamb”,[3] that time when “nations won’t learn war anymore.”[4]

But, in the meantime, the kingdom is among us.

It’s our job to look for its coming, like the caveman hunter who’s searching for his quarry.

It’s also our job to help God bring the kingdom into being. By the way we believe, by the way we act, by the things we say, our job is to demonstrate what the kingdom looks like, so that when the kingdom comes near, people will be able recognize it.

The other useful thing to glean from the account of the cavemen is to look carefully and closely at the nature of the kingdom. What, exactly, does the kingdom look like from the point of view of the Bible? What do we read there about the kingdom? What does Holy Scripture have to say about the citizens of the kingdom, and their relationship to the King? For it would be easy to look away from the pages of the Bible, risking the possibility that some concept of the kingdom that arises in our own minds will displace the description of the kingdom we find in the pages of sacred Scripture.

In the hustle and the bustle of daily living, it’d be easy to miss seeing the evidence of the kingdom that is among us whenever its appearing is known.

We would do well to seek out the kingdom with all the energy and focus we can muster. We would also do well to examine, and then re-examine, the true nature of the kingdom.

To do both of these things, we will need to help of the Holy Spirit.

AMEN.

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[1]   Matthew’s usual term for the kingdom is “Kingdom of Heaven”.

[2]   Luke 10:9

[3]   Isaiah 11:6

[4]   Isaiah 2:4 

Pentecost 8, Year A (2026)

Isaiah 44: 6–8 / Psalm 86: 11–17 / Romans 8: 12–25 / Matthew 13: 24–30, 36–43

 

This is the written version of the homily give at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 19, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor

 

 

“IT’S NOT A PERFECT WORLD”

(Homily text:  Matthew 13: 24–30, 36-43)

Recently, I was driving down a two-lane road with a double yellow line in the middle. A vehicle was tailgating me, almost to the point of making contact. (Apparently driving at the speed limit wasn’t good enough for them.) Then, suddenly, the vehicle pulls into the opposing lane, passing me in a No Passing Zone, and reaching a speed fifteen to twenty miles an hour above the speed limit. For good measure, as the passer speeds by, an arm appears out of the window…you can guess what happens next. As the vehicle passes by. my passenger in the right front seat, points energetically at the lawless driver and exclaims, “Smite the evildoer!”.

Indeed. “Smite all evildoers” who venture out onto the roads.

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if everyone obeyed the rules of the road? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if everyone drove courteously? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if there was no such thing as an aggressive driver?

Indeed it would be. Banish all those workers of roadway mischief, I say.

Wouldn’t be a wonderful world if everyone was attuned to the things of God? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if everyone sought out the mind of God? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if all causes of evil were banished?

Indeed, it would be a wonderful world. In fact, that is a vision of heaven: Eden restored.

Those who have sought the mind of God, down through time, have dreamed of such a world and such a state of relating to God.

The reality of what confronts us, day in and day out, is something else altogether: We live in a world where human beings, many of them, do not seek the things of God. We live in a world where people do bad things to one another, who seek to advance their welfare at the expense of others, like the speeding vehicle in that No Passing Zone.

Down through time, in the Old Testament period, as well as in the New Testament period, the response of many seekers after God has been to lament this state of affairs. Read the Psalms, and before long, those Psalms which ask God to punish evildoers will come across our vision.

God’s people, at certain times, have opted to withdraw from the wickedness of the unbelieving world in which we live.

Consider, for example, the beginnings of the monastic movement in the fourth century, as the Church ceased to be a hidden reality in society, only to become the official religion of the Roman Empire. As it did so, many who came into the Church continued to behave just as they had before they came into the Church. In response, some Christians were prompted to withdraw from society into cloistered communities of prayer, in order to preserve the soul of the Church.

In our own country, many attempts at creating a perfect, Christian world were attempted. Not far from us were the Ephrata Cloisters, for example. We also had the Shakers, and many other utopian, Christian communities.

Our Lord’s teaching, heard in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares this morning, directs us in a different direction.[1]

Jesus tells us that we, as Christian believers, are to be present and active in a corrupt world that is in rebellion against God. We are not to be plucked up and removed from such a world and such a place.

To be truthful, perhaps many of us aren’t comfortable with such an idea, of the good in the world existing right alongside the bad.

But Jesus tells us that our presence, as God’s people in the world, brings value to that world. We are in the world to make a difference.

Which brings us to the work before the Church.

To the Church has been given the truths of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Church has value, to God and to the world around us, only to the extent that it maintains and adheres to those truths. Otherwise, it could begin to resemble the weeds in the field.

In our own time, this is, perhaps, the most critical issue before God’s people, the Church.

The question before us is: To what extent should the Church be influenced by the beliefs and practices of the secular society in which it finds itself? After all, the Church in various times and in various societal settings, has accommodated some aspects of the society in which it was situated. This is an old pattern, discernable down through time.

Perhaps the operating principle for the Church might be this one: The Church’s purpose is to introduce God to people, and to introduce people to God, and to nurture that relationship. Therefore, anything which dilutes the effectiveness of that central purpose must not be allowed to compromise the Church’s witness to the world.

Our purpose, as God’s people, is to show by what we do and by what we say what a godly life looks like. When we do this, then we bring value to the world, inviting others we come into contact with into such a relationship with the Lord.

Now, finally, for all those who long for God’s will and God’s way to prevail over all causes of evil and all ways that are in rebellion against God, Jesus assures us that the time will come when God will have the last, final and victorious word. In the meantime, we Christian believers are to labor in the world to prepare God’s way to that final, perfect state.

Thanks be to God.

AMEN.

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[1]   It’s worth noting that the Lord provides an explicit explanation of the meaning and application of the parable, as was the case with last week’s parable, the Parable of the Sower. Perhaps the Lord wanted His disciples to understand the importance of this teaching clearly. 

Pentecost 7, Year A (2026)

Isaiah 55: 10–13 / Psalm 65 / Romans 8: 1–11 / Matthew 13: 1–9, 18–23

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 12, 2026, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

 

“GOD, THE MASTER GARDENER”

(Homily text:  Matthew 13: 1–9, 18-23)

 

Why do some people get the truths of God, and the intensity of God’s love, while others don’t? Why is it that some people seem to respond wholeheartedly to God’s workings in their lives, only to grow cold to the things of God? Why is it that some people seem hard-hearted and totally unable/unwilling to hear God’s voice and God’s truths? And – for that matter – why do some people hear and receive the Word of God, and grow into living strong and fruitful lives in God?

Perhaps those questions occur to us from time to time, as we experience the varying responses that people have to the truth of the Good News (Gospel).

It’s entirely possible that those same questions also occurred to Jesus’ first hearers, as some seemed eager to hear and receive what He had to say, while others seemed oblivious to those things.

And, it’s entirely possible that the early Christian community among whom Matthew was working also asked those same questions.

In a sense, these questions, each of them having to do with the various responses and reactions that we human beings have to God’s initiatives and God’s love, are timeless truths. For I think we can safely say that the human heart is composed of the same sort of raw material that that heart has been made of since time immemorial. Absent God’s working and God’s intervention, the human heart will respond to God’s voice in much the same ways, down through time.

But God is the master gardener, whose wisdom has the ability to overcome the hardness of heart that our Lord Jesus describes in “The Parable of the Sower”. God’s Holy Spirit can loosen the soil of a hardened human heart, in order that the seed of divine truth can find root.

But perhaps we’ve getting ahead of ourselves a bit. We’d do well to take a few moments to look at the parable itself.

We’ve already noted that the questions that the parable seeks to address were probably very much on the minds of the early Christian community among whom Matthew was laboring. They may have asked why their family members didn’t respond to the truths of God as they are known in Jesus Christ. Or why some seemed eager to hear the Good News, but then didn’t continue to hear it.

The next thing we might notice is that our Lord provides a detailed explanation of the meaning and the application of the parable. (Such explanations aren’t always provided. But perhaps Jesus wanted His followers, down through time, to understand clearly the importance and the applicability of this parable.)[1]

Now then, let’s consider some of the aspects of the interaction of God’s working and the human heart, lessons that our Lord wants us to understand.

We might begin with soil in general, and with the soil of the human heart: Soil, all of it, must be prepared in order for seeds to find root. (Of course, we’re excluding from this comment concerns about weeds, which seem to grow in just about any soil condition we can imagine. But weeds aren’t useful, from the standpoint of being able to provide food for people.) But the truth is that the default condition of the human heart is to be opposed to the things of God. Moreover, the human heart has an inability to hear and receive those things, absent God’s intervention.

Fruitful, spiritual growth requires God’s preparatory work in order for good growth to take place. The Holy Spirit is the means by which the human heart is made ready to receive the Word of God. And, it’s important to notice that the work of the Spirit often takes place before we are aware of it. The technical term for the Holy Spirit’s advance work is Prevenient Grace.[2]

This wonderful parable contains some important implications for us, as Christian believers, and for those we come into contact with, as we live out the Gospel truths, and as we seek to show by our lives what a difference that a lively and loving relationship of the heart can mean to each and every person.

The first thing we might notice is that God, the One who is sowing the seed, is exceedingly generous in throwing the seed here and there. What farmer would do that? Sowing seed where there is little expectation of growth and a harvest? But God’s economy[3] isn’t like ours. God is quite willing to offer His love to each and every person.

Now, notice that there is an element of freedom of choice in God’s activity. We human beings can continue to spurn God’s workings. We can choose to allow our hearts to become hardened by the cares of life. This is, of course, a mystery: Why would God allow us to have the ability to choose, or to reject, His love? That’s as much a mystery as the truth that God is exceedingly generous in showering His love on people in every age and in every place.

Finally, the ability to hear and receive God’s workings is a gift of God. Here we come to yet another mystery: Why is it that the ability to hear, receive, understand and incorporate God’s truths is a gift, pure and simple?

Yet God’s moving in our lives and in our hearts is, ultimately, God’s initiative, which is intended to prompt a response in the human heart.

Come then, Holy Spirit, and enlighten with spiritual fire the inner longings of the human heart, that we may hear, receive and inwardly mark your truths, allowing them to be deeply implanted in our innermost being.

AMEN.

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[1]   It would be good for us to notice that the chosen verses for our lectionary readings omit some verses in chapter thirteen of Matthew’s Gospel account. In those verses, Jesus’ disciples ask Him about the parable, and He responds by saying that not everyone is given the truths of the kingdom of heaven, but those original disciples have been gifted with the truths of God.

[2]   Prevenient Grace takes as its title the word “prevent”, whose original meaning was to “come before”.

[3]   Here I am using the term “economy” in the sense of assigning values to things (and people). 

Pentecost 6, Year A (2026)

Zechariah 9:  9–12 / Psalm 145: 8–14 / Romans 7: 15–25a / Matthew 11: 16–19, 25–30

 

This is the written version of the homily give at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 5, 20206 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor

 

 

“I CAN SEE IT FROM HERE, BUT I’M NOT THERE YET”

(Homily texts:  Romans 7: 15–25a)

 

Let’s ask ourselves some questions.

First of all, do I have a perfect past in my life, from the beginning up until now?

Secondly, do I have a forgiven past? That is to say, has God forgiven me for the ways in which I’ve fallen short of His perfect will for me?

Now then, I think the answer to the first question must surely be, “No”, none of us has a perfect past. I know for certain that I do not have a perfect past. In some ways or another, either big and noticeable ways, or in small and seemingly insignificant ways, all of us have managed to miss the mark (a classic definition of sin, by the way). We haven’t attained the heights of God’s perfection. It matters now whether our failings are – by human standards and human reckonings – big or small. In God’s eyes, all are failures.

The answer to the second question can surely be “Yes”, we can have a forgiven past, if we are willing to concede our own failings, and to ask for that forgiveness. Something happens when we come face-to-face with ourselves, and when we seek God’s forgiveness, and ask for God’s help to amend our lives and to endeavor to live – with the help of the Holy Spirit – a life that is pleasing to God.

Before we take a close look at St. Paul’s admission of his own spiritual condition, as we read it in our epistle reading for this morning, from his Letter to the Romans, chapter seven, we ought to note that Christians, in times past and even today, have wrestled with the issue of perfection. More properly, we ought to note that some Christians maintain that we can – with God’s help – attain to perfection in this life. In the area where we ministered for seven years, there was a clergy colleague who maintained we could, actually, attain to perfection in this life. When I heard what he thought, I went home and said, “What planet is he living on?” As we look back into Christian history, others have maintained that perfection is attainable. Of course, we ought to note that such attitudes are possible only when we close our eyes to the things in human nature we don’t want to see. If we do that, then things look pretty good. (So then, St. Augustine of Hippo’s assessment of the human condition is right on the mark. For he said that we human beings are so easily fooled.)

Paul, in the admission of his own spiritual condition that we hear this morning, says that his eyes are wide open to the entire scope of his life and his behavior. He says that he knows what God’s perfect will is, but he also says he can’t attain that level of perfection. He says there is a war going on inside of hum: His earthly and human characteristics are engaged in battle with his awareness of God’s will.

Isn’t this admission refreshing? Refreshing in the sense that such a hero of the faith as the Apostle Paul admits that he, along with the rest of us, wrestle with our fallen nature and God’s nature, which has been implanted within us at our baptisms.

Turns out, we’re all in the same spiritual boat, it seems.

Why is this so?

I think the answer lies in the origins of our sinful desires.

To see this more clearly, consider some of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Each of these are misuses of some naturally-occurring need within our natures, needs which ensure our wellbeing, and even our survival.

For example, avarice (an older word for “greed”) stems from our need to have enough of our basic needs met in order to ensure our survival.

For another example, gluttony is the misuse of our need to eat.

You see the pattern.

Well, of course, the reality is that these basic needs aren’t going to go away. We will continue to have our basic needs met. We will continue to have a need to eat. (Just to cite two examples.)

We are, therefore, between those things that – if misused – will ensure that we miss the mark of God’s holiness and righteousness, and God’s holy nature and God’s holy will.

That condition will continue so long as we are in this life.

What are we to do, then?

Perhaps the answer would be that, whenever we are tempted to forget God’s will and God’s ways, we might pray for God to intervene, to place Himself and His will between us and our temptations.

If we do that, then perhaps it’ll be easier for us to turn away from those things which separate us from God when they come around again, as they surely will. We get stronger, we get more proficient in saying “No” to those sorts of things. Be sure of this, however: We will continue to need the assistance of the Holy Spirit to be able to refine away those things that do not bring honor to God.

In the course of this life, whenever we experience a victory over sin, then we can join our voices to Paul’s and give glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, whose own victory over sin and death gives us the hope of victories over those same things.

AMEN. 

Pentecost 5, Year A (2026)

Jeremiah 28: 5–9 / Psalm 89: 1–4, 15–18 / Romans 6: 12–23 / Matthew 10: 40–42

 

This is the homily written for Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania, for Sunday, June 28, 2026, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“GOD’S WILL AND GOD’S VOICE ARE OFTEN MEDIATED”

(Homily texts:  Jeremiah 28: 5–9 and Matthew 10: 40-42)

As Christian believers, who seek to follow the Lord’s leading, to know God’s will, and to know when God is telling us something, it is important for us to know something about the various ways that God communicates His mind and will to us.

Oftentimes, God’s voice and God’s will are mediated in some way.

That is to say, God usually speaks to us indirectly. To say that God’s will and God’s voice are mediated, we mean that God often uses some intermediary means to do so. (At this point, we should acknowledge that God can, and does, speak to us directly. The action of the Holy Spirit is one such way.)

Let’s explore some of the ways that God lets us know His mind and His will.

We could begin with an obvious way in which God speaks to us: In the pages of Holy Scripture. The Bible is, from one perspective at least, the record of God’s dealing with human beings down through time. The mistakes that people have made, the successes that have happened, the good, the bad and the downright ugly, all of it is in the pages of sacred Scripture. (I think that’s one way that what the Bible has to tell us is really true in the fullest sense of that word, for it doesn’t attempt to hide or sugar-coat the ugly truths of human behavior….it’s all there in the text.)

God’s truths are often expressed in stories, in poems, and in the texts of hymns. Sometimes, when we read a story or a poem, or when we sing a hymn, the truths contained in these various ways of expressing God’s truths will touch our minds and our hearts. Poems, stories and hymn texts can offer an inspired way to see truths that we know from other perspectives. Seeing divine truths from another perspective is much like picking up a fine piece of cut glass and holding it up to the light. As we turn the glass, the light beams shimmer and shine in differing aspects. The same process can happen with poems, hymn texts and stories.

Another way that we discern God’s voice and God’s will is through the voice of others. Sometimes, in conversation with another believer, something that is said can strike us with the gleam of God’s truth. Of course, oftentimes the assistance of the Holy Spirit enables us to know that what we’ve heard is God’s truth.

Sermons can be a vehicle for expressing God’s truth. The preacher’s task, it has been said, is to “Afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted”. Here we come to the prophetic nature of preaching. That is to say, good preaching doesn’t just seek to assure us of things we already know and believe, it is, indeed, that, if it is effective preaching. But preaching that is faithful to God’s call to point toward God’s truth also involves challenge, the sort of challenge that encourages us to look beyond our current situation and surroundings, in order that we might see what else about God’s voice and God’s will we are missing, or have overlooked. The preacher’s task is to have the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper in the other. This is a way of saying that the good preaching seeks to find ways to apply God’s truth to the daily situations we encounter in our time, place and culture.

Finally, we should talk about prophets and prophecy, since our reading from Jeremiah has to do with the work of prophets, and since – in our Gospel reading for this morning - our Lord mentions that a prophet will, by no means, lose his (her) reward.

Quite often, when we think about prophecy, we think of it in terms of foretelling future events. Prophecy can, indeed, deal with events that have not yet come to pass.

But prophecy also has to do with God’s truth, or – more properly – speaking God’s truth, and especially in situations where people don’t necessarily want to hear God’s truth. (That would summarize the prophet Jeremiah’s situation quite accurately.)

Jeremiah’s assessment of the truthful and faithful nature of speaking God’s truth is that, when a prophet’s pronouncements bear fruit, then the prophet has been faithful to the voice of God.

A situation I encountered some years ago will illustrate this point: A person I met said that the (Holy) Spirit had predicted a set of events in their life that would take place in the future. The details were explicit. But none of the events that the individual predicted ever came to be. So, one wonders, what spirit was the person listening to (or thinking that they were listening to)?

Perhaps the challenge for us as believers is to realize that, since God often speaks to us indirectly, it is the challenge we must take up to actually and accurately discern God’s voice and God’s will from other voices and other ways of thinking. One way to approach this challenge is to ask whether or not the voice we are hearing is consistent with the revealed truths we find on Holy Scripture, or in the traditions of the Church. If what we are hearing isn’t consistent with those sources of authority, then, chances are, what we’re hearing isn’t God, but ourselves.

So come, Holy Spirit, assist us to know God’s will and to hear God’s voice when God speaks to us.

AMEN. 

Pentecost 4, Year A (2026)

Jeremiah 20: 7–13 / Psalm 69: 7–18 / Romans 6: 1b–11 / Matthew 10: 24–39

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 21, 2026, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“DIVINE MATH”

(Homily texts:  Romans 6: 1b–11 & Matthew 10: 24-39)

 

One of life’s essential skills is the ability to manage things that are valuable.

For example, we teach our young drivers to be careful operators of our vehicles, so that those vehicles will serve for a long time, avoiding accidents. We teach our children to manage their finances, so that they won’t spend more than they have. Just two examples.

We take steps to protect that which is valuable, being sure to preserve it from loss.

Human assessments of value, and of preserving value, are very different from God’s way of assessing and assigning value to things, including – of course – our value as children of God to God. We could call God’s way of measuring worth and value “Divine Math”.

Divine Math tells us that to lose ourselves is to find ourselves, our truest selves. What?

Shouldn’t I want to “play it safe”, to avoid situations in which I could lose something? Something like my plans for my life? Something like my career, or perhaps my life’s path up to this point? Something like a part of my life that I have declared to God that it is “off limits”?

Yes, precisely. That’s the way God thinks.

To some extent, “Divine Math” is a mystery. The walk of faith is made up of some things that are certain. But other things – from a human point-of-view at least - are mysteries. (It’s worth noting that, in our communion prayer, we say, “Let us affirm the mystery of faith”.)

So, it’s a mystery why someone would leave a highly successful career, in order to be a missionary in some faraway place. The reason: To answer God’s call to serve.

So, it’s a mystery why someone would begin working with a ministry that serves people who are dealing with addictions, or who are homeless, or who are in some sort of distress. The reason: To answer God’s call to serve.

We could say the same thing about those who answer God’s call to enter the ministry, be it a lay ministry or an ordained one. In some cases, answering this sort of a call involves radical changes in one’s life.

Our Lord Jesus Christ admonishes us, as He proclaims God’s assessment of worth. In our Gospel text for this morning, He says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it/” Divine Math.

We would do well to mention two other examples of Divine Math.

How can it be that dying leads to life?

Think of our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross on Good Friday. His death is the necessary prelude to His rising to new life on Easter Sunday morning. Our Lord couldn’t have risen on Easter Sunday unless He had freely given up His life the Friday before. So we, as Christian believers, are called to take up our cross – or, as St. Paul says in our reading from his letter to the Romans, “Now if we have died with Christ (in Baptism), we know that we will also live with him”. (Romans 6:8)

Divine Math tells us that, to walk the way of the cross, is to find ourselves on the path to true and lasting life, in this life and in the life of the world to come.

This, my friends, is a mystery. It defies our normal way of thinking.

We mentioned baptism a moment ago. Holy Baptism is a death-leading-to-life event. The outward and visible sign of this Sacrament is water. Water can kill, but water is also essential for life to exist. It is, therefore, the perfect sign of the mystery that happens in baptism.

Paul makes an excellent exposition of the meaning of baptism, linking it to Christ’s death, and to His rising again.

Another mystery.

Our Lord’s instructions to His early followers informed them that, unless they were willing to loosen their grip on those things that were of value, they could not be ready to follow God’s call to take up their own cross, in order to follow the Lord.

Those same instructions are given to us today. We are called to loosen our grip on those things that hinder our ability and our willingness to follow the Lord.

If we are willing (with the assistance of the Holy Spirit) to allow God’s call to permeate our minds and our hearts, then we are ready to find our life’s truest meaning, answering God’s call, in whatever fashion and form that call may take.

AMEN.