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. 

Pentecost 3, Year A (2026)

Exodus 19: 2–8a / Psalm 100 / Romans 5: 1–8 / Matthew 9:35 – 10:23

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 14, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“THE ‘STUFF’ OF THE GOOD NEWS”

(Homily text: Matthew 9:35 – 10:23)

Stuff.

“Stuff” is a word I use a lot. A friend, not too long ago, said to me, “You use the word ‘stuff” a lot. I’m going to get you something with the word ‘stuff’ on it.” He did, and I now have a sweatshirt with a saying on it: “I like stuff”. I get a good many comments when I wear it.

“Stuff” is a wonderfully useful word. “Stuff” can mean good things, or it can mean not-so-good things. “Good stuff” could be something like an object or a gift that you’ve been wanting for a long time. Or, “stuff” could be ordinary things we have to do, like chores….in that case, “stuff” is of the not-so-great variety. An example of this sort of “stuff” would be when someone asks you what you’re going to do this afternoon, you reply that you’re going to be doing “stuff”, meaning that you’re going to tackle that mess that passes for your bedroom or your house. (I realize this is a condition that – in particular – afflicts teenagers.)

This morning, we consider some really “good stuff”, the “stuff” of the Good News of God, made known in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew relates to us how the Lord sent out His disciples, gifting them with some very good “stuff”, and saying to them that “the kingdom has come near”.

The Lord’s command to go out into the world, carrying the gift of God’s good “stuff”, was accompanied by this encouraging word: “The harvest is plentiful”. Therefore, the Lord says, “Pray that the Lord will send laborers into the harvest”.

The “stuff” of the Gospel (Good News) is made up of the good things that will point as signs to its value: Those who had been harassed and helpless - up until the coming of the Good News – will now have someone to lead and to care for them; the sick will be cured; the dead will come to life again; and the powers of evil will be defeated.

Put another way, when the “good stuff” of the kingdom arrives, changes – for the better – will come as well.

But, the Lord is blunt, warning those who will be the carriers of this “good stuff”, the Gospel, won’t have an easy time of it as they share what God has done: Some will reject the “stuff” of the Good News. Others will be openly hostile. (Perhaps the description of the hardships that those who had been sent out is also a prediction of the conditions facing Matthew and his faith community as Mathew’s Gospel account is being written, perhaps late in the first century.)

You and I today, as Jesus’ messengers in our time and place, have the same set of instructions as those twelve Disciples (who will soon become Apostles[1], as they were sent out into the known world following the Lord’s resurrection and ascension) who were sent to God’s people so long ago.

We have the same great, good gift to bring, the “good stuff” of the Good News of God, made known in Christ.

The Lord’s message we bear still means that life will now have purpose. It means that evil will be defeated. It means that divine healing still works to restore life to the fulness of God’s intent (by the way, we’ve had a divine healing here at Flohr’s not long ago…God be praised!).

Above all, it means that changes, for the better, will come as the “good stuff” of the Gospel is received into the hearts of those who hear it.

Is there any higher calling, any more important purpose, than the instructions we’ve been given, those same instructions given to the Lord’s original band of Disciples? I can’t think of any.

May God empower us to faithfully carry the “good stuff” of the Good News to any and to all whom we meet along life’s pathway.

AMEN.

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[1]   The title “Apostle” comes from the Greek words, which mean someone who is sent out. 

Pentecost 2, Year A (2026)

Hosea 5:15 – 6:6 / Psalm 50: 7–15 / Romans 4: 13–25 / Matthew 9: 9–13, 18–26

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on June 7, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

 

“CHANGE???!!!”

(Homily text: Matthew 9: 9–13, 18-26)

Some years ago, there was a comedy show that came out of Canada called “Red Green”. It appeared on Public Television. The setting for “Red Green” was a men’s clubhouse. Each episode featured caricatures of typical “guy” people, like the guy who’s fiddling with an old pickup, or the nerdy guy, or the one who’s creating some sort of a Rube Goldberg device.

Each week’s show began the same way, as the men filed into the men’s clubhouse and sat down on benches. Then, the leader would come in and invite everyone to stand for the Man’s Prayer, which went something like this: “I’m a man, and I can change, if I have to, I guess. Amen”.

Now, let’s shift this a bit, and offer what might be the Christian’s Prayer, which might go something like this: “I’m a Christian believer, and a follower of Jesus. The Lord expects me to change, and will help me to do so. Amen.”

Our appointed Gospel text for this morning conveys to us the accounts of people whose lives were changed as a result of their encounter with Jesus: The disciple Matthew; the tax collectors and sinners that Jesus was hanging around with; the leader of the synagogue whose daughter had died; and the woman who’d had a bleeding disorder for twelve years.

Each one of these people’s lives were radically different after their encounter with the Lord, than they were before their encounter.

It’s worth noticing that Jesus is willing to meet each of these where they are when the Lord encounters them. He doesn’t demand that they do something in order to be worthy of the Lord’s compassion and care. And, it’s worth noting, He’s quite willing to begin a relationship right where He finds each of these.

But, that’s only part of the truth of the matter. Change is an expectation. Change is the evidence of a genuine relationship with God through Christ. True enough, “Come as you are” is correct. But the journey, if it is to be a genuine one, never ends there. We may not continue living in ways that counter God’s design and desires for us.

Today, many churches reach out to the outside world, saying, “Come as you are”.

That approach is true enough. There’s plenty of evidence in Holy Scripture that God is quite willing to start working with us and within us from whatever place He finds us.

We might observe that the pages of the Bible are filled with accounts of people whose lives changed once they’d come into relationship with God. The accounts in the Bible also contain some examples of those who encountered God, but who spurned God’s offer to begin a relationship. We could look at Scripture from this vantage point.

For whatever reason, God gives each of us free will. For some reason, God’ doesn’t want us to be automatons or pieces on the chess board of life. He grants each of us the ability to choose to relate to Him, and to accept – or reject – God’s offer of relationship, a new and fuller life, and a genuine relationship.

Returning to the people we reach about in this morning’s Gospel, we can see that Matthew had the ability to remain as a tax collector, and not to choose to follow Jesus. The tax collectors and sinners could have chosen to remain as they were. The leader of the synagogue could have spurned suggestions that Jesus could help his daughter. The woman with the bleeding disorder could have chosen not to seek healing from the Lord.

You and I face the same juncture: We can choose for God, or not. The choice is ours to make.

AMEN. 

Trinity Sunday, Year A (2026)

Genesis 1: 1 – 2:4a / Psalm 8 / II Corinthians 13: 11–13 / Matthew 28: 16–20

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, May 31, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“UNDERSTANDING THE FULNESS OF GOD’S NATURE AS FATHER, SON AND SPIRIT”

(Homily texts: Genesis 1: 1 – 2:4a, and Matthew 28: 16-20)

God’s nature is hidden from our human eyes and understanding, except to the extent that God, Himself, has chosen to reveal His nature to us.

It should be noted that God’s self-revelation is a wonderful gift to humankind. 

That said, we human beings have come to understand God’s nature in its fulness as One God in Three Persons – or – as it is usually stated, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit: The Holy Trinity.

Such an understanding of God’s nature didn’t come to full acceptance overnight. Nor did this understanding come quickly. Instead, the process of understanding God’s self-revelation took quite a long time to develop and to be accepted. That’s often the case when God chooses to tell us something about Himself.

Before we explore some of the process by which God pulled back the veil of mystery which surrounds His being, and the process by which human beings came to understand what God had revealed, let’s take a moment to explore why Trinity Sunday occupies the place that it does in the Church Year.

Trinity Sunday is the only Sunday in the year whose theme is theological in nature. (Remember that theology is the field of study and contemplation which attempts to understand God’s nature and God’s acting.) Recall that, as the Church Year unfolds, we anticipate and then celebrate two major events in our Lord Jesus Christ’s life and work: His birth in Bethlehem (celebrated at Christmastime), and then His resurrection (on Easter Sunday). Preceding these two celebrations are two preparatory seasons: Advent (prior to Christmas) and Lent (prior to Easter). Following the Christmastide season is the season of Epiphany, as we give thanks for the spread of the Good News (Gospel) to the non-Jewish world, the Gentiles.

Then, following Eastertide, we have the season after Pentecost, which occupies about half of the yearly calendar. (The season after Pentecost makes use of the color green, signifying growth of the Good News in the world and in our own lives.)

Now then, Trinity Sunday is the culmination of the process of reflection upon God’s gift of His son, Jesus Christ. Tracing our steps backward to Christmas, we celebrate His coming among us as one of us, as He takes on our humanity. Then, at Easter, we celebrate His victory over death. Then, we recall the coming of the Holy Spirit in a unique and powerful way at the feast of Pentecost.

With the coming of the Spirit, we are now aware of the Spirit’s unique and irreplaceable role as God’s guiding and empowering presence. With this awareness, we are equipped to go out into the world, knowing and understanding (as much as we, as human beings are capable of understanding) the nature of the God who calls us into relationship with Him, and who sends us out as His representatives in the world.

All of this reflection on the path that the Church Year places before us, we are now ready to explore the meaning of Trinity Sunday.

Trinity Sunday’s theme is to remind us of the fulness of God’s nature. It won’t do for us as Christian believers to be aware of only part of God’s nature. Instead, we are called to attempt to hold in mind that God’s fulness exists in Three Persons, while being but One God.

We are encouraged to remember that, as we think about one Person of the Trinity, the other two Persons are also and always present. (God cannot be separated into different parts.)

Holding this awareness in our thinking and believing means that we now have all the tools that God intends for us to have in order to be good and effective workers in God’s field in the world. To my thinking, at least, this is the importance of Trinity Sunday.

We’d do well to reflect a bit on the understanding of the Holy Trinity, as it developed over time.

We can begin with our reading from Genesis. In this reading, one can see the presence of the three Persons of the Trinity. Notice that the text begins by saying, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”. This would be God the Father. Then, the text tells us that God’s Spirit hovered over the waters. Then, a bit later, the text tells us that God spoke, and things began to come into being.[1]

The Christian understanding of God’s nature as One God in Three Persons stems from our Lord Jesus Christ’s teachings about His relationship to God. He uses father and son imagery. Then, with respect to the Spirit, He tells His disciples that He is going to send them another comforter, an Advocate[2], who will lead them into all truth.[3]

In summary, what we have come to believe, as Christian believers, stems from our Lord’s teaching.

What an enormous and valuable gift that teaching is!

God be praised.

AMEN.

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[1]   At this juncture, it’d be helpful for us to reading John’s Gospel account, and specifically John 1: 1–18. There, we read that, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Biblical scholars have long noted the similarities between Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 and following.

[2]   See John 16: 4b–15.

[3]   The Nicene Creed affirms the conviction that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son”. This phrase, which was added a good many years after the adoption of the Creed, is probably based on the Lord’s teachings, as we read in John, chapter sixteen. The phrase in the Creed continues to constitute a difference of conviction between the Eastern (Orthodox) Church and the Western Church.