The Great Commission

June 4, 2023 Matthew 28:16-20 The Great Commission Trinity Sunday Year A Prelude Welcome Call to Worship (adapted from Psalm 8) One: Gathered to worship the Creator of the stars and all of life, Many: we lift our hands and hearts to praise God, whose glory is greater than all the heavens. One: Formed as God’s own people, we are just a little lower than God. Many: And it is God who gives dominion to humans! One: How excellent is God’s name in all the earth! Many: How majestic is your creation! (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Opening Prayer God, maker of all life, we’re together to give you our praise and offer you our heart-felt gratitude for making us in your image. We’re surrounded by a billion stars, and yet we only know ONE where you’ve given dominion to your creatures. You’ve called us by name, and made your home with your human sons and daughters. So we praise you and ask you to draw us close so we may be filled once more by your Spirit and led into a new week of love and service. AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Song Sweet Sweet Spirit UMH 334 Children’s Sermon Greet children, prepared with your mail or postal items of your choice. Hello, children of God! Today I want to talk with you about a very important job we have as Christians. Before Jesus went to Heaven, He gave His disciples some special instructions, and they apply to us, too! First, though, I want to show you some items I just picked up from the Post Office. See, here’s a letter from my Grandma, and this one is a card from my friend who lives far away…this one is a boring bill, but this one has some important news for me! Ooh, and this one is an invitation for a birthday party. I enjoy getting to pick up the mail from the box, and seeing what is inside. Do you like to receive mail? What do you think would happen if the mail carriers decided they just didn’t want to do their jobs anymore, and they quit bringing the letters? All of those important notices, and letters, and bills and information and invitation, all of that would never reach people! They might miss out on something they really needed to know. Did you know that our Post Office is actually controlled by the Government? If the mail delivery agents don’t properly drop off mail, it’s actually considered a crime! They have to do that job, and it’s an exciting one. Did you know that we have an essential task to carry out, as well? Jesus gave us some important instructions to fulfill. Before He ascended into Heaven, He reminded the disciples that He would always be with them. And He told them to go into all of the world and make disciples of other people. That meant they were commanded to spread the Gospel, start churches, and tell others of Christ. We often refer to this sending as the “Great Commission”, as Jesus was sending us out to perform an essential task. Guess what? Those directions were not just for the disciples. It’s our turn, now! God wants us to serve others and tell them about the good news of Jesus. That’s something that Jesus commanded us to do. It’s not something we can just choose to do if we feel like it, but a critical part of who we are as Christians. Just as mail is sent out, we are sent out, and it’s our job to share God’s love with one another. We can do this around the whole world, but we can also do it with people near to us. What are some ways we can follow that Great Commission of Jesus? Well, we can tell people about Jesus. We can invite them to church or Sunday School. We can Copyright © Ministry-To-Children.com – Permission granted for any non-profit use. Written by Kristin Schmidt . Illustrations from ChristianClipArts.com Scripture quotes The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016 Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles. send them cards or letters…and we can just love them and be their friends! That’s a great way to share and spread the good news. When we are faithful to God, we can make more followers. And it’s a beautiful thing! This is not just a task we have to do, but something we get to do! It’s a blessing to have the opportunity to take part in helping God bring the world into relationship with Him. People need to get those good news messages. Let’s deliver them! Children’s Prayer Moment Dear God, Please help us to love and serve others Those near us, and around the world Thank you for allowing us to be part of your great plan Help us to share the good news And spread your love to one another Thank you for your love We love you, God! In Jesus name, Amen! Affirmation of Faith UMC 880 Scripture Matthew 28:16-20 Sermon The Great Commission The mission statement of the United Methodist Church is to go make disciples of all nations for the transformation of the world. When we are baptized, it is in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. These are both statements that come from the last few verses of Matthew 28. Christ has risen and he tells his disciples to meet him on a holy mountain in Galilee. Before Jesus rises to heaven, he gives them these last words, words that will stick with us until the end of time. Matthew has told an epic story of the messiah and his impact on the world, and in the end Matthew reminds us all that the ball is in our hand now – Jesus simply tells us to go….that is the great commission. Get on with It! A college choir was all set to present its package of music in a large church. The program of sacred song was to be carried live by a local radio station. When everything appeared to be ready, the announcer made his final introduction and waited for the choir director to begin. One of the tenors was not ready, however, so the venerable conductor refused to raise his baton. All this time, nothing but silence was being broadcast. Growing very nervous, the announcer, forgetting that his microphone was still on and that he could be heard in the church and on the radio, said in exasperation, "Get on with it, you old goat!" Later in the week, the radio station got a letter from one of its listeners--a man who had tuned in to listen to the music from the comfort of his easy chair. When he heard "Get on with it, you old goat!" he took the message personally. He had been doing nothing to further God's work, and this startling message was enough to convict him and get him going again. Sometimes we need a wakeup call. We need to be reminded that before Jesus left this earth, He gave us all the instructions we need. He told us we should go and make disciples. We need to get on with it! Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating while harvest fields are vast and white? Revive us, Lord--the world is waiting! Equip Thy church to spread the light. It's what you're doing today that counts, not what you're going to do tomorrow. Our Daily Bread There is a difference between a command and a commission. When we were a child, our parents would tell us to do something. If we dare talk back and ask why – they would always say “because I said so that’s why – that is a command. God tends to not do that with our faith. If God wants us to truly do something and understand what and why we are doing it, God shows us, stands with us, and gives us the tools to do the job – that is a commission. The last words of Matthew chapter 28 is called the great commission. We read them today on father, son and holy spirit day. Trinity Sunday is important – because Easter is the season of the power of Jesus, Pentecost, even though it is only one day – it is the season of the holy spirit with us right now. Trinity Sunday reminds us that God is the guiding force behind everything. God is creator, redeemer and sustainer. God is the power of Christ and the holy spirit. The trinity is the wholeness of God at work in our faith. The trinity reminds us that God is everywhere. In the scripture Jesus tells us to go in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. This is the only place in the bible where Jesus says that. This is a very short scripture – but it tells us everything. Annual Conference is coming up for us this week. Last week, the clergy met together in order to handle our business. Bishop Scherwin also taught us about spiritual development. He says that every morning, he begins his devotional time by reading the psalms and picking out a word that speaks to him. I enjoy reading his devotional on facebook. The process that he used is called lectio divina – or holy words. In this scripture, the word that stood out to me – is doubt. When Jesus called his disciples to the holy mountain, they worshipped, but some of them doubted. Worship is the normal response when you realize that Jesus is our saviour. But for some of us – life is not that easy – we have questions and concerns. But I would not say that there is a division between the worshippers and the doubters. No matter who we are – we all have questions. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have questions. We would not have real faith, if we had not gone through times when none of this made any sense. The good news is that a God that gives us the commission, is a God who gives us permission to wrestle. Just as Jacob wrestled with an angel, we too get to wrestle with our beliefs. Where there is adoration there is indecision, where there is prayer, there is puzzlement, where there is worship there is doubt. That is okay, As long as we remember the great commission – go – keep it moving. The best way to work through our doubt is to continue to work, the have a sense of purpose, and to know that God is with you no matter what. A Blanket Order I love the story of the raw army recruit standing at attention on the drill field. The drill instructor yells, "Forward, march!" And the entire ranks begin to move, all except this one raw recruit. He's still standing there at attention. So the drill instructor strolls over to him and yells in his right ear, "Is this thing working?" "Sir, yes, sir!" The recruit yells. Then the drill instructor walks around to the other ear and yells, "Is this thing working?" "Sir, yes, sir!" The soldier says. "Then why didn't you march when I gave the order?" "Sir, I didn't hear you call my name." Some of us are like that soldier standing around waiting for God to call our names. But the great commission is a blanket order. It has everyone's name on it. And you can be sure that the man in charge says, "Go! Disciple! Teach!" Stephen M. Crotts / Stan Purdum, Sermons for Sundays: After Pentecost (First Third): Hidden In Plain View, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. The primary purpose of everything that we do in the church and in our faith is to glorify Jesus, which in turn glorifies God. Jesus says that he has been given all authority to help us with the mission of spreading love all over the world. Jesus does not make a distinction between the worshippers and the doubters, he is talking to us all. My fear is that sometimes we get so caught up into doing to work of the church – that we lose sight of why we are doing the work. The work of the church becomes a chore. Church of God Grill A story was told about a church in Atlanta. A man noticed in the Yellow Pages, in the listing of restaurants, an entry for a place called Church of God Grill. The peculiar name aroused his curiosity and he dialed the number. A man answered with a cheery, "Hello! Church of God Grill!" He asked how the restaurant had been given such an unusual name, and the man at the other end said: "Well, we had a little mission down here, and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills. Well, people liked the chicken, and we did such a good business, that eventually we cut back on the church service. After a while we just closed down the church altogether and kept on serving the chicken dinners. We kept the name we started with, and that’s Church of God Grill." The easiest thing in the world to do is to lose sight of the mission of the church. The clearest and most comprehensive command of our Lord is given in Matthew 28:16-20. This command was the last command given to the chosen disciples after Christ's resurrection and just before Jesus ascended to heaven. Jim Davis, The Call of Discipleship The great commission is important to us – it helps us to stay worshippers in spite of our doubt. William Willimon said: "In baptism we are initiated, crowned, chosen, embraced, washed, adopted, gifted, reborn, killed, and thereby sent forth and redeemed. We are identified as one of God's own, then assigned our place and our job within the kingdom of God." Billy D. Strayhorn, From the Pulpit, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. A Marathon Not a Dash I can't imagine a football player coming off the field in the third quarter, walking up to his coach, and saying, "Coach, I've been thinking. I've played enough. Let some other guys finish the contest. I'm going over there for a box of popcorn and relax with my girlfriend." It'd never happen! Yet it does happen in the church. "For ten years I've labored for you, Jesus. Sunday school, group prayer, worship, small groups. I've done it all. So now I'm going to buy me a sailboat and head for the beach every weekend I can. Let somebody else do your work for a while." And Jesus says, "Until the close of the age." You see, the Christian life is not a 100-yard dash. It's a lifelong marathon. Stephen M. Crotts / Stan Purdum, Sermons for Sundays: After Pentecost (First Third): Hidden In Plain View, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. If Christ will always be there for us, then we can be there for him. Amen Song Lord, You Give the Great Commission UMH 584 Prayer Creating God, we marvel at your work; the way you shaped this world from a formless void into our beautiful earth; we live because you loved. Hear our thanks and praise, Creator, for your wondrous work. Redeeming God, we needed a teacher, a prophet, a guide through the wilderness, a savior. You blessed us with Jesus and redeemed us through his death and resurrection, hear our thanks and praise, Redeemer, for your wondrous work. Sustaining God, you fill us with inspiration, a fire burning within us to seek your Word and your way. Holy Spirit of God, you call us together for community and communion. Hear our thanks and praise for your wondrous work and hear these prayers from our community: We pray for those who are ill and for their caregivers… We pray for those who grieve… We pray for those are isolated and alone… We pray for those who are overwhelmed and exhausted… We pray for those who are lost and afraid… In your mercy, Beloved God, hear the prayers of your people (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri Ott) Stewardship Moment Matthew’s Gospel ends with a blessing from the resurrected Jesus, framed as “marching orders” for the disciples. Early Christians would have heard these instructions as a job description for followers: 1) go make disciples 2) baptize the new believers 3) teach them everything I commanded you 4) remember “I am with you” As we prepare for our offering, we recognize our financial gifts, joined with our gifts of time and talent, make it possible for us to make disciples, inviting others through _________ [please describe specifically: advertising? On-line presence? Billboards? License plates? Support of a food pantry? Free classes?) welcome newly baptized (describe! with a reception or lunch? Banners at baptism? Introductory classes to link newcomers?) teach Jesus’ commandments (Sunday School? Bible study? Book groups?) remember Jesus will always be with us (communion, small groups who pray together?, support groups for those grieving?, groups for those recovering from addiction?) Knowing your offering makes a difference for this congregation and for many who yearn for a community with which to identify, let us share our tithes and gifts. Prayer of Thanksgiving God of all creation, thank you for each one who is present, and for all who continue to offer portions of their time, their talent and their treasure to follow Jesus’ instructions. Inspire each of us to be grateful for all you’ve given each of us, and generous in our giving, that we might continue to share the Good News of the Gospel both here and around the world. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Invitation for Communion (you do not need to print) (quotation from F. Buechner and reflection from Joanna Siebert, found at https://www.joannaseibert.com/daily/2018/8/5/buechner-memory-eucharist) “There are two ways of remembering. One way is to make an excursion from the living present back into the dead past. The old sock remembers how things used to be when you and I were young, Maggie. The faraway look in his eyes is partly the beer and partly that he’s really far away. The other way is to summon the dead past back into the living present. The young widow remembers her husband, and he is there beside her. When Jesus said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me,’ he was not prescribing a periodic slug of nostalgia.” (Originally published in Wishful Thinking and later in Beyond Words) Buechner gives us two ways to remember, going back and bringing memories forward. The going back to past memories can allow us to relive a scene from our lives. Anthony de Mello writes that sometimes that scene was too powerful to experience at the first time. As we relive it, we can participate in it again and again perhaps with a greater sense of its meaning. Bringing memories forward is like doing active imagination with a friend or someone you deeply loved who has died. You imagine their presence with you. My experience is sometimes you will feel their presence even without trying to imagine it. Buechner believes that when Jesus said, “Do this is remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24), Jesus is calling us to bring him back into our presence and know and feel his love so that we might go out and do the same for others. Some believe Jesus is actually present in the bread and wine at the Eucharist. Others believe the bread and wine are messengers or symbols reminding us of Jesus’ presence and love in our lives. Either way, the God of love is present. (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Communion Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Go, therefore, because you are children of the Triune God and partners in God’s work of light, life, and love that even now is at work all around us. May the mystery of the Trinity enfold you, the glory of the Trinity astound you, and the love of the Trinity companion you on your way. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, November 2022. Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction Lord dismiss us in your light and in your love. Let us leave this worship experience stronger and wiser than we entered it. Let us leave with a renewed sense of hope and healing. Let us leave this space walking and serving in authenticity understanding that our greatest witness is our truth. The truth that you offer love and peace to every person as they are no matter who they are. Thank you God. Amen (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Derek Terry) Additional Illustrations Understanding the Trinity This is Trinity Sunday. God in three persons--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Do we fully understand this wonderful doctrine? No, but some of us will fight for it. You may remember that ancient story about St. Augustine. One day he took a break from writing about the Trinity to take a walk along the seashore. There he came across a child with a little pail, intently scooping up a pail full of water out of the ocean, then walking up the beach and dumping it out into the sand, then going back down to scoop out another pail of water to pour into the sand, etc. Augustine asked the child what he was doing, and the child explained that he was “emptying the sea out into the sand.” When the Bishop tried to gently point out the absurd impossibility of this task, the child replied, “Ah, but I’ll drain the sea before you understand the Trinity.” There’s truth to that child’s comment. We don’t understand the Trinity, but we’re ready to go to war to defend it. Well, maybe not anymore. But there was a time when battles were fought over church doctrine, and even today churches are being split over whose interpretation of the Word is correct. And it’s tragic. King Duncan, Collected Sermons.www.Sermons.com Who, Me? Unfortunately, most of us act like the out-of shape, overweight man who decided to take up tennis. He took lessons from a pro. He read several self-help books which advised him to "think positively" and "develop a winning attitude." A friend asked him how his tennis was going. With a positive, winning attitude in his voice, the man replied, "When my opponent hits the ball to me, my brain immediately barks out a command to my body: 'Race up to the net.' Then, it says, 'Slam a blistering shot to a far corner of the court. Then immediately jump back into position and return the next volley to the other far corner of the court.' And then my body says, 'Who, me?'" I'd be willing to bet, if we could go back in time, that the first words out of the mouths of all the Disciples after Jesus spoke these words were the same: "Who, me?" You have to remember that the events of this passage actually took place before Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But the question is still pertinent. "Who, me?" Billy D. Strayhorn, Go! “Feeling Like…” I rather like the story Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick once related from his own childhood days. His father had said to his mother, upon leaving the house one Saturday in the morning hours: “Tell Harry that he can cut the grass today, if he feels like it.” Then, halfway down the walk, his father turned once more to add: “And tell Harry that he had better feel like it.” Well, in its own rather humorous way, there is something essential about life wrapped up in that. For there is a difference between knowing we are supposed to do something, and ‘feeling like” doing it. There is a difference between a sense of obligation and a sense of generosity. There is a difference between obedience and desire. And the one of those weighs us down, while the other lifts us up. Christianity says to us, you do not know God, if you know Him only as a sense of authority over your life. Furthermore, you do not know God, if you merely believe intellectually that God is a God who cares and loves. You do not know God somehow at all, unless the same spirit of His authority and His love captivates you from within, so that you live knowing the spirit of it for yourself. You do not know God, unless all this that we have been saying about Him becomes for you your own way of life and not an obligation imposed on you by the Church, or by the fear of death, or by anything else. Paul van Dine, Not the Nature, But the Character of God – Trinity!, Cathedral Publishers. Following Orders Have you ever been given orders for which you could get no reason? I suspect so. Everyone of us, at some time were told by Mom or Dad to DO something; we asked "Why?" and got the response, "Because I SAID so, that's why." We followed those orders because we had no choice in the matter - the one who gave them had the power to back them up. But we probably did not carry them out with as complete conviction as we might have had we understood why they were being given. As we grew older, others gave us orders...orders that were not to be questioned. "Ours is not to reason why; ours is but to do and die." One fellow, on getting out of the military, filled out an application for some insurance. When he came to the question, "What did you do in the service," he wrote in large letters, "AS TOLD!" No doubt. But again, what conviction might have been brought into the completion of any task was diminished because the superior felt no need to give any rationale for doing it. At least Jesus gave his troops a reason before he told them what their orders were. David E. Leininger, ChristianGlobe Illustrations Evangelism Most people expect me and every other minister in the world to witness and do the "E" word thing. You're sort of like secret agents. Most folks don't expect you to talk about your faith or be involved in this whole Evangelism deal. But you know what, you are exactly who Jesus would have chosen. Jesus called fishermen, tax collectors, and the every day ordinary kinds of people. He didn't have a single Pharisee, Sadduccee, Priest or Levite on his staff. It was all run by the laity. And after Pentecost their ministry exploded. _________________________________ Why the Word ‘Doubt’? Who doubts? Most English translations render v. 17: "When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted" (NRSV). However, the word "some" doesn't occur in the text. The little Greek word de is often translated "but," but it can also mean "and". With this understanding, the verse could be translated: "And seeing him they worshiped and they doubted." Those who worship are also those who doubt -- like being simultaneously saint and sinner, or the divine and human natures in Jesus, or the body/bread, blood/wine of communion. We frequently talk about two things existing at the same time. Mark Allan Powell writes about this verse in his book, Loving Jesus. ... I want to note that the word some is not actually found in the Greek Bible. Why is it in the English version? Well, Matthew uses a particular construction here that allows translators to think that the word some could be implied. He also uses that construction in seventeen other instances, though no one ever seems to think the word is implied in those cases. It could be implied here, but why would it be? I asked a Bible translator that question one time and got the following response: "The verse wouldn't make sense otherwise. No one can worship and doubt at the same time." I invited this fellow to visit a Lutheran church. We do it all the time. [p. 121] Exegetical Notes, Brian Stoffregen Trinity: The Power of God Is Real In David Dunn’s book entitled “Giving Yourself Away,” he tells of a lesson he learned from a bus driver whom he once had met. Riding the bus this day, Dunn noticed a driver who was exceptionally cheerful in every imaginable circumstance. There was a kind and happy word from him for everyone who stepped on the bus, and again for everyone who left. As he was about to get off, Dunn told the driver he was the happiest bus driver he had ever seen and wondered what the reason was. “Well,” the driver said, “to be honest, I read in the paper a few months ago about a man who died and left a lot of money to a bus driver who was nice to him. So, I thought maybe I would try it myself. But (now) I’ve enjoyed myself so much being nice to people, I don’t care whether anybody ever leaves me any money (anyway).’ I would suggest to you the doctrine of the Trinity tells us something about God which is akin to that. If you would know Him, you cannot fully know Him with your mind. There must be the discovery of the spirit of it all somewhere living within you. There must come that point in your life when you know both of the love and power of God are real, and they are true--not because you have run up against God’s authority and fear to do otherwise, nor even because you have seen His love expressed and feel attracted to that in return. For to know God is to have chosen for yourself to live like that, simply because the spirit of it has become your own. Trinity! Does it say very much to us of God? Perhaps not very much, as only a word --not very much at all. But, if you mean by “Trinity,” this reality of how men and women have to come to know God in their own lives, if they know Him at all, then Trinity is surely a word we can scarcely do without. Paul van Dine, Not the Nature, But the Character of God – Trinity!, Cathedral Publishers. ____________________________________________________ M. Eugene Boring (Matthew, NIB) says this about the verse: "Whatever the nature of the resurrection event, it did not generate perfect faith even in those who experienced it firsthand. It is not to angels or perfect believers, but to the worshiping/wavering community of disciples to whom the world mission is entrusted." [pp. 502-503] We are commissioned even if we don't fully comprehend the doctrine of the Trinity or if we are unable to understand the Athanasian Creed or even if we waver in our own faith. Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes. Paying Attention to Business A good many years ago now, a brilliant theologian by the name of Reinhold Niebuhr noticed and wrote about an interesting thing that happens in groups and organizations. Put any group of people together, Niebuhr said, no matter how high and noble their initial purpose may be, and it doesn’t take too long before two things begin to happen: they start becoming self-serving and self-protective. And when that happens, their own self-preservation becomes more important to them than their mission or their reason for existence. Pretty amazing, huh? A classic example from business is IBM. They used to rule the world, with a business machine dominance nobody, anywhere, could match. But then a subtle shift started occurring. Niebuhr would say they became more fixated on their preservation and self-interest than their mission. And so for a time there, to people watching from the outside, it looked like IBM was spending more time, money, and energy building huge, impressive corporate office buildings, filled with gifted managers and executives, than improving and selling what had been state-of-the-art, cutting edge products. And in that gap, little upstart companies like Apple and then later Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Compaq and others, stepped in and took a huge slice of the pie. Now IBM’s a great company, and it was smart enough to fix that problem and regain a whole lot of their strength and market share. But it’s a classic case of not paying attention to business; of shifting away from the assignment, and worrying more about taking care of yourself than paying careful attention to your whole reason for being. Phil Roughton, Inviting the Unchurched The Difference Between Believing and Believing I grew up in the NiagaraPeninsula, and so, all through my childhood, I heard stories of barrels, wheelbarrows, acrobats and publicity stunts that happened over Niagara Falls. One of the most amazing stories I ever heard was about the French acrobat Blondin. Blondin would do amazing feats on a tightrope stretched out over the Niagara Gorge. One day, Blondin's manager was standing on the Canadian side of the gorge, doing his best to attract a crowd for his acrobat to perform. Blondin had just done a series of stunts (walking on his hands, doing cartwheels, using a unicycle, etc.). His feats were really quite spectacular. The Frenchman took up a wheelbarrow and got onto the rope between the two sides and turned to his manager. In front of the crowd, he asked him, "Do you believe that I can push this wheelbarrow across this rope to the other side?" The manager said, "Yes, I do." Blondin said, "Get into the wheelbarrow!" As you can tell from that story, there is a profound difference between believing and believing. David Chotka So Much Extra Love We're told that when early printers, using handset type, received an order to print a collection of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poems, they immediately ordered hundreds of extra letters L and V for their presses. They knew Tennyson. He used the word `love' so often in his poetry that the average set of type could not possibly supply all the necessary letters. It is with that same kind of extravagant love that God loves us. God so loved the world. King Duncan, ChristianGlobe Illustrations __________________________ Parable of the Cafeteria Two counter girls stood at their post of supply in the cafeteria. As they kept the display of foods replaced, they conversed. One said, "It just aggravates me to watch these hungry wolves snatch up the beautiful salads we have made. I don't think they see any of the beauty or skill in our work. In a few moments the artistic salad is torn to pieces by their teeth." Said the second girl, "I look at it in a different way. It pleases me to think that these hungry people will shortly leave our place feeling stronger and better able to do whatever their work may be. I like to think of our supplying the power, that they use to serve, as a result of eating our food. Each time they take one of my salads I accept it as another person who has voted in favor of my service and one who has been attracted by my display. I consider it a compliment." The lives of all humanity are interwoven endlessly. We live in a world of many choices. As different foods are attractive to different people and each may go forth from the cafeteria having chosen to his satisfaction; so we choose our own happiness by what we see and how we interpret it. The Christian life is ruled by a God of love and a Savior who seeks to bless all who have eyes to see and ears to hear. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Sermons.com Illustrations One step won't take you very far, You’ve got to keep on walking. One word won't tell folks who you are, You’ve got to keep on talking. One inch won't make you very tall, You’ve got to keep on growing. One deed won’t do it all, You’ve got to keep on going.

Climbing Back Down the Mountain - repreach 031302 - mountain climbing

April 28 , 2019 John 20:19-31 Climbing back down the mountain Year C 2nd Sunday of Easter Repreach of 031302 Children’s Sermon….. Object: a yo-yo (might want to get a young person with yo-yo skills to help with this demonstration) Lesson: Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever played with a yo-yo? They're a lot of fun once you learn how to play with them. You can do all kinds of tricks with a yo-yo, but first you've got to learn the most basic move: getting the yo-yo to go up and down. That's the first and most important move for the yo-yo, just going up and down. That's what a yo-yo was made to do. Did you know that sometimes our faith can be like a yo-yo? When our faith is up, we believe that God is in control, and we trust God to lead us and guide us. But when our faith is down, we don't believe in God, and we get scared and worried, and we start complaining a lot. Our Bible story today is about a man with a yo-yo faith. His name was Thomas. Thomas was one of the men who followed Jesus. Thomas had a really strong faith while Jesus was alive. But after Jesus' death, Thomas' faith went way down. He just didn't believe that God was still in control. When Jesus came alive again, Thomas didn't believe it at first. His faith was way, way down. But then, when Thomas actually saw Jesus with his own eyes, his faith went way up. He believed again! And Thomas' faith stayed way up for the rest of his life. He never doubted Jesus again. God doesn't want us to have a yo-yo faith, one that goes up and down all the time. He wants us to believe at all times that He loves us and He's in control of our lives. We can trust Him; our faith can always be up. Let's pray and ask God to give us a faith that is always up on Him. Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan John 20:19-31 Common English Bible (CEB) Jesus appears to the disciples 19 It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.” Jesus appears to Thomas and the disciples 24 Thomas, the one called Didymus,[a] one of the Twelve, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe.” 26 After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!” 28 Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus replied, “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.” 30 Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples’ presence, signs that aren’t recorded in this scroll. 31 But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name. Footnotes: a. John 20:24 Or the twin Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Speaking of an up and down faith. If last Sunday was the highpoint of the year, today is the lowpoint of the year. Not as many people, not as much music, not a festive time – the good thing about this Sunday is that the restaurants wont be as crowded. And we can celebrate that it is still easter Sunday. It is the second easter Sunday. Easter will last for about five more weeks. How do you know this is a special time, because our gospel lesson for the next five weeks comes from the book of John. John is the festival gospel. Every second Sunday of Easter we hear the story of Thomas. It is still Easter evening, and all of the disciples are hiding together. They say that this is the story of doubting Thomas, but I really think that Thomas teaches us a much bigger lesson about our yoyo faith. A faith where sometimes we are up, and sometimes we are down. Sometimes we are up on a mountain, and sometimes we are down in the valley. And yet wherever we are- Christ shows up and offers us a peace beyond understanding. So this Sunday my sermon is about mountain climbing - life is like a mountain. The Story of the Young Lion When I was a freshman at Northwestern, the university went through great lengths to provide a support system for African American students. So I was part of a summer program, where we got to know one another, and went to classes, and gathered at the African American student union. In one of our first sessions together, the director of African American studies gathered us together and told us an African tale of a young lion. He was preparing to be king of the jungle, so he was sent out on a mission at the top of the mountain. While he was at home, it seemed that everywhere that he went – the jungle inhabitants showed him respect. He was so sure of himself, that he seemed to have confidence wherever he went. But that was before he had to go through his rite of passage ceremony to become a man. You see his people were from the valley, they knew nothing about the mountains. The rite of passage meant that a young lion had to go up into the mountains for one night and learn to survive. Many of the confident you lions came back from the experienced, changed, much more mature. So when the young lion did not return from his mountain trip the next, day, no one thought anything of it. When he was ready, he would return. Soon another day passed, and another, and another – and no triumphant return. Finally, they sent an expedition out to find the young lion. And they found him frozen to death at the top of the lion. In a strange place – he had no idea of how to survive. Our advisors told us that story to remind us to hold on to our roots in a new environment. Like the young lion, at home we were king of the jungle – we knew it all. But going off to college meant encountering many strange things. If we were not careful, we could end up like the young lion stranded – without the proper survival skills. Mountain Climbing I think that this is a fitting story also for as Christians, as we enter into the Easter season. A time of transformation and new beginnings for us too. Our spiritual journey is a lot like mountain climbing. During lent, we are climbing the mountain in anticipation of an encounter with God. Easter is our time at the top of the mountain. And post Easter is the time to come down off of the mountain. Mountains pay an important part, not only in rites of passage, but also in spiritual encounters with God. In the bible, the prophet Elijah comes in contact with God by passing God by on the mountain. Moses goes up to the mountain for 40 days in order to talk with God and to get the ten commandments. Martin Luther King, a modern day prophet , preaches his last sermon on going to the mountaintop to see God’s will for our nation in the future. He says that he gets the chance to see the promised land. Mountain are an important part of our faith. If you tour some of the ancient sites, or even older churches, you will have to climb some pretty significant stairs in order to get up to the sight. So my sermon for today is about instructions for climbing a mountain. First let me ask, if any of you have ever been on a mountain climbing expedition. Most of us have probably not. I was fascinated as I did a little research on mountain climbing. You probably realize that mountain climbing is very dangerous – but not for the reasons that you would think. You have to be well trained in order to climb a mountain, and there is a discipline that you have to follow very stringently. The consequence for not following the discipline is death. I have been reading this book called Three Cups of Tea – it is a true story of a mountaineer, who went on several expeditions. While in Afghanistan and Pakistan he realized that the children who lived on the mountain had to climb down in order to go to school. The book is about his mission to build schools in those towns, so that the children would not have to travel. To set the tone for the book, he tells of the toll that mountain climbing took on his health, and all of his friends who never made it off of the mountain. The Dangers of Mountain Climbing The real danger of mountain climbing is not from slipping and falling. The real danger of mountain climbing comes from the change in the atmosphere the higher you go up. Every day – mountain climbers are given a certain course to follow. You are given strict instructions to follow that course, no matter how physically fit you are, and no matter how determined you are to complete your journey. You are to stop at a designated spot, and to wait until further instructions. The air gets thinner the higher you go up, and there is more stress put on your body. As you go up, if your body has not adjusted to those changes, you won’t realize it, but you are destroying your body internally. So you have to take the proper time to give you body a chance to adjust to those changes before you climb higher. That is why the goal of mountain climbing is not to get to the top of the mountain. It is getting down the other side safely, and having the strength to climb again. There are many stories of people who like the author’s friends and , just like the young lion got to the summit of the mountain – and never made it down. They did not realize that the closer you get to the top, the thinner the air gets, the less oxygen that gets to the brain, the narrower your vision becomes. It is as if the closer you get to your goal, all you see is that goal. You lose sight of the fact that making it to the top is only a small part of a much larger goal. Your real goal is to live to tell about the experience, not the experience. That is a good lesson for us this Easter Season. For the last six months we have had one festival season after another. We have been prepping for this, and planning for that. We have shopped, and prepared special dinners, and entertained guest and family. We have come to Easter, all of that is over with, but now we are called to move on to something different. During the Lenten season we took a journey to the cross. And yet the cross means nothing with the resurrection. Resurrection means nothing without transformation. If we cant take that transformation into our everyday lives, then Easter means nothing. If we don’t live as witnesses to Christ, then why are we Christians? There is a saying, that today is the first day of the rest of your life. Easter is the first day of the rest of our lives. The story of the Three People in the Throne Room of God I learned another story in college, I was told that it was from the jewish tradition. But Paul also uses this story in his teachings. It’s the story of three people who went up to the throne room of God. The first went to the throne room to see God, and was dazzled by all that he saw. He wanted to stay with God for the rest of his life, but God reminded him that his life was not over and that he had to return home. When he got home he was never quite the same. He couldn’t function, because nothing in life compared to his experience with God. He was depressed for the rest of his life. The second person had all of these expectations of what God would do and what would change in his life as a result of seeing God. When he got to the throne room he was disappointed – he told God that God was not real. Because God was so different from his expectations. He lived out his life as a very bitter, critical disappointed man. He told people that there was no God. The third man was totally elated by his time with God, it was amazing and he savored every moment that he spent with God. Like the other two men, God told him that it was time for his to return to his normal life, because his life was not over yet. He always treasured his time with God, but he also loved his life, his work, his family. When he lived his life he adjusted well- and he went on in total service to the will of God. We all have a mountain to climb. But our goal in life is not to get to the top of the mountain – it is to get back down in a healthy state of mind, with the strength to go climbing again. I chose this text, because many of us may not take the time to climb physical mountains, but all of us know about climbing spiritual mountains. All of us here have some mountain in our life to climb. It may be a mountain of fear, of lonliness, of need, or even of despair. All of us have a mountain to climb, and all of us need some instructions on the process. What was the difference between these three people? They all had the same experience, but a very different mind set. The first person was like our young lion, over focused on a goal and couldn’t see anything else, the second was disillusioned when he met that goal. The third man was just an ordinary person in partnership with an extraordinary God. That man had a clear sense of what it means to be human and what it means to be divine. He knew that the same God that was with him at the top of the mountain is the same God with him in the valley. He knew that the same God who whispered in his ear and gave him the strength to climb, was the same God who led him along the journey, was the same God who helped hi reach to top of the mountain, was the same God who gave him the peace of mind to get back down the mountain and to resume his everyday task. The importance of our Faith in our journey Mountain climbing is a discipline. Just as in mountain climbing, you are given strict instructions before you start on your journey, and you know that your life depends on following those instructions, no matter what you encounter while you are up there. We too, as Christians must follow a strict discipline on our spiritual journey. We have to read the scriptures to make sure that we live our lives according to what it tells us, we have to listen to God in our prayer life, we have to see God no only our friends, but in the face of all people. There are 4 simple rules to mountain climbing to keep in mind. First – what goes up, must always come down. – the same with our faith. Second follow the instructions – read your bible. And third always make sure that you have a guide – Christ is our top spiritual advisor in all things. And finally – trust in the power of the holy spirit to transform life – that is the power of the resurrection. It is important that we not get to Easter Sunday with our new clothes on, the ham in the oven, hunting for Easter eggs, and not know how we got there. We have to remember that the point is not who we are on Easter Sunday – but who we are on Easter Monday. If we believe that the summit of our faith is Easter, we end up frozen on top of the mountain life the young lion. There are a lot of people in the world frozen at a certain point in time, unable to just get over it and move on. But as the Easter people. We have to remember that God has given us a safety rope to get through the rest of our lives. That is our faith. During the next five weeks, the gospel lesson will be a story of how Jesus appeared to his followers and gave them an important lesson in faith, a faith that led them to believe in the resurrection. Today, Jesus comes to Thomas. I really don’t think this is really a story about doubt, but about an up and down faith. In order for us to be up and active, sometimes we have to be down and out. It is those times when we are afraid, when we are uncertain, when we are discouraged that we see Christ clearly. Those mountaintop festivals exist in order to give us perspective, some strength, something to strive for. Our savior is not perfect, he is not even a spirit, but a wounded son of God. who understands pain and suffering, and who came to the earth to help us to see that there is so much more beyond it – there is a whole season of Easter Sundays. Tribulations are in every life. But if you have faith, then tribulations are not our enemies, but your chance to see the face of God. A chance to grow in faith, a challenge to endure to the end. A chance for us as ordinary people to be in partnership with an extraordinary God. What about you? Where are you on your journey this Easter season? Are you focused on your goal, or are you are you focused on God? Are you trying to make it to the top, or are you getting back down to the reality of life? All questions for us to ponder this Easter season. Amen. Easter in Us The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote an ambitious poem entitled 'The Wreck of the Deutschland.' It commemorates the death of five Franciscan nuns drowned on the German ship Deutschland at the mouth of the Thames in the winter of 1875. One half-line especially intrigues me: 'Let him Easter in us.' Let Christ 'Easter' in us. A rare verb indeed, but it suits this sacred season, ... How does Christ Easter in us? In three wondrous ways: (1) By a faith that rises above doubt. (2) By a hope that conquers despair. (3) By a love that does justice. Walter J. Burghardt, Let Christ Easter in Us, Dare to Be Christ: Homilies for the Nineties (Mahwah, NJ.: Paulist Press, 1991), 51.

Children Go Where I Send Thee

Sixth Sunday After Pentecost July 8, 2012 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 Mark 6:1-13 Year B Children Go Where I Send Thee Five Doubts There are five doubts that lurk in the shadows of the human mind and tend to rob us of our faith. First there is doubt in God’s wisdom, there is doubt in God’s teachings, second there is doubt in the person who takes the time to teach God’s wisdom, there is doubt as to whether the ways and methods suggested for following God is reliable, and finally – there is always the person, who because of his arrogant and impatient mind, may doubt the sincerity of the others who understand and follow God’s teachings. In other words there is always going to be someone who doubts the sender of the message, the message, and the messenger. The world we live in – doubtful We live in a world where people do indeed say that there is no God, and if there is a God, there is nothing that I can learn from the creator. There are people who question the bible. There are people who constantly question the credentials of the people who interpret God’s word for us today. Jesus rejection in the synagogue You get that wherever you go. It is always lurking in the human mind. God sent his only son to a people as a gift the teach them the true word. Even he experienced rejection. Jesus had been all over the countryside teaching, healing, performing miracles, transforming the world. If anyone was going to accept him, surely it would be the community that raised him. And sure enough, they allowed him to speak in the synagogue, they were astounded at his teaching. They seemed to have faith in what he said, but they doubted who it was that was talking to them. Isnt this Mary’s son? Isn’t this James brother, isn’t this the carpenter, didn’t we know him? The bible says that they took offense at him. How dare he try to teach us something. Glued to our faults James S. Hewett once gave an apt example of people not getting the respect they deserve. Especially young people. He tells about his son, who was using one of those super-adhesive glues on a model airplane he was building. "In less than three minutes," says James Hewett, "his right index finger was bonded to a shiny blue wing of his DC-10. He tried to free it. He tugged it, pulled it, waved it frantically, but he couldn't budge his finger free." Soon, they located a solvent that did the job and ended their moment of crisis. Then James Hewitt writes this: "Last night I remembered that scene when I visited a new family in our neighborhood. The father of the family introduced his children: 'This is Pete. He's the clumsy one of the lot.' 'That's Kathy coming in with mud on her shoes. She's the sloppy one.' 'As always, Mike is last. He'll be late for his own funeral, I promise you.'" James Hewett goes on to say, "The dad did a thorough job of gluing his children to their faults and mistakes. People do it to us all the time. They remind us of our failures, our errors, our sins, and they won't let us live them down. Like my son trying frantically to free his finger from the plane, there are people who try, sometimes desperately, to free themselves from their past. They would love a chance to begin again. When we don't let people forget their past, when we don't forgive, we glue them to their mistakes and refuse to see them as more than something they have done. However, when we forgive, we gently pry the doer of the hurtful deed from the deed itself, and we say that the past is just that--the past--over and done with . . ." King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com He is “just” a carpenter Some say that they were offended, because he was “just” the carpenter, he was just a child that they grew up with. In doubting Jesus, the didn’t realize that they also doubted message of God. God’s message was that even the carpenter could be used by God. The message was that indeed Mary’s son had something to teach the world. The wisdom of God came into the world in the form a carpenter, so that God could relate and speak to the ordinary person. So that we could understand his message. And understand that the message does indeed apply to us. Mark is working hard to help people overcome those five doubts that rob us of our faith. So that we can receive the message of the messiah and be saved. Mark is working hard to give us the stories of the messiah, so that we can see for ourselves that Jesus is indeed our Christ and our Lord. Scripture says that Jesus was amazed, absolutely astounded at their unbelief. He didn’t bad mouthed them, he didn’t threaten them, he didn’t curse them. Scripture says the he didn’t do too much else to prove himself to him. He healed a few people and went on about his business. But what he does do says it all – he calls his disciples to him and sends them out two by two. To continue to go out into the world and to continue to spread God’s word. Three gifts of advice As Christ disciples, he gave us three gifts in the form of advice as we go out: travel together, trust God to work wonders, and to travel light. God entrusted not just the carpenters, but the plumbers, the teachers, even the preachers to go and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. The atmosphere in which we receive is important But the most important lesson that Jesus wanted to teach us in the story. Is that the gospel truth is not always so much in the person who is speaking. If they are speaking what God gave them, then it doesn’t matter who they are. If they are teaching the truth of what the bible says – it doesn’t matter what their profession, and it is not always our place to try and judge their character. God can use anyone to teach truth. What really does matter is not who speaks – but who hears. A friend of mine recently said, half of the sermon is not in what I say, it is in what you heard. And it is not so much in what you heard. It is in how you heard it. Ears that are receptive and listening for God’s word can hear the truth and believe. Ears that are cold and doubtful – will always question what was said. People who come together to criticize and find fault – will criticize and find fault. People who come together seeking God, seeking truth, seeking love, will find it and respond to it. And the world will be changed because of it. God has given us all an awesome responsibility. We as the church can either help or hinder the word. We can open the door wide to Jesus, or we can slam it in our face. In how we hear the word, but also in how we spread the word. Ignoring the Play When I was in elementary school, I remember when all the kids in the neighborhood got together and put on a show. We rigged up a curtain of sorts by hanging an old bedspread in a screened porch, and arranged folding chairs for the audience. Then we practiced a small play, and added in a few musical solos, for which I played the piano. (Because we couldn’t move the piano closer to the play, I had to play it very loud, and even then it was barely audible.) As I remember it, it was a prodigious feat for little kids like us. We invited all our mothers to come to our performance. (That was back in the days when housewives were not an endangered species and most mothers were home all day.) Although we did not charge admission, we went through the motions of collecting tickets and ushering our guests to their seats. Our audience was charmed by how cute that was. Then we put on our play. We put a lot of work into our play. We had to invent everything from scratch and improvise sets and costumes from things our mothers reluctantly loaned us, and yet they didn’t pay attention! They sat there and gossiped with each other, commenting on whether this kid was a natural singer or that kid was terminally shy. At the end, they retained nothing of the plot or the story of our play; they just told us how cute we were. Cute! The word stung! We wanted them to take us seriously, as if we were adults putting on a play. But they were so well acquainted with us that all they saw were cute little kids, and no play at all. Well, that is pretty much what happened to Jesus in today’s reading The Church is cute It is the atmosphere in which things are received that make the difference. In a world where people are prone to doubt and to question. To stay attached to their assumptions. And to not take the fact that god works in ordinary situations, with ordinary people. I think that this story represents the biggest challenge of the church today. We are taken as cute, but not relavant. The word of God is interesting but not important. Being in mission is good, but not transforming. We have to think seriously about how we represent the gospel to a doubting world. We have to be faithful in our task. We have to preach not our words, but the word in the bible that are given to us. Jesus says that if people still don’t listen, shake the dust off of your feet and keep stepping, keep spreading the word. We might have to give up on people, but we never give up on the message. That seems a little harsh. I think that if we are faithful, and determined, that people will eventually hear that message. Even Jesus hometown will eventually hear what is being said to them. Paul was doubted also But I want to leave you with the words of Paul. Paul had the same problem that Jesus had. He was among strangers, and yet there was doubt. Paul spent all of 2 Corinthians explaining his value in preaching God’s word. He didn’t feel he should have to prove himself. But there are five doubts that plague the human mind – those doubts are universal. God’s grace is sufficient Paul says that God gave him a thorn in his side – in order to keep him humble and focused on God’s task and not his. He says that he asked God to take the thorn away – I want to leave you with God’s response to Paul. My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. We are just the bearers of God’s truth. God works best, when we are vulnerable and broken, relying on God’s strength because we don’t have any. Fred Craddock, whom is a preaching professor said that grace only comes in empty spaces. When we are full of ourselves, and think that we are in control and have the answers, Grace can’t do its work. But when we are dependent on God’s grace, and we genuinely pass it on in everything we do – God fills our cup. And God helps the world overcome doubt. There is a song – children go where I send thee – spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Don’t ever give up on the power of God’s word, God has not given up on you. Amen. Not a part of the sermon…… As a conclusion to this sermon we might seek to set up a dialogue between the questions of identity raised yesterday and today „ and Jesus' word of promise. "Where did this man get all this?" Jesus: "I am the Son of God." "What is the wisdom that has been given to him?" Jesus: "I come with the wisdom of the kingdom of God." "Who are you for us today anyway?" Jesus: "I am the Sower. I have come to sow the Word." "What if I just can't believe in you?" Jesus: "I just keep on sowing." "Where can I turn for assurance?" Jesus: "Read my Word. Listen to my Word. I sow the Word to call you to faith." "What can I do about you?" Jesus: "Just keep on coming with a receptive heart. You keep coming. I'll keep sowing. I will never give up on you. I'll be sowing the word of life on the soil of your heart for all eternity. Amen." . Ken Collins, No Honor in His Own Country Glued to Our Faults

Late for Easter

May 1, 2011
Year A
Late for Easter
Acts 2:14, 22-32
John 20:19-31
Second Sunday of Easter


Introduction – How reputations get started
I recall a story my grandmother told of a man in west Kentucky around 1900. He never touched a drop of "Demon Rum" except for one memorable occasion. He got roaring drunk, stole a horse and buggy, and raced down the main street of Arlington, Kentucky, all the while singing at the top of his lungs the song, "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!" For the rest of his life he was known as "Hot Time." One night and a reputation for a lifetime! It wasn't fair to call him "Hot Time". He never lived down that one night.

Thomas’ reputation
But you know, that is how we are about people. We love to associate people with our opinion of their reputation and not of who they really are. And have you noticed that we never ever think about whether that reputation is fair or not, we just keep on perpetuating it. We are quick to judge others.

That is how we know about the disciple Thomas – by his reputation. In one story in the whole bible, we heard that he doubted Jesus, and we have labeled him doubting Thomas.

That reputation is very prevalent; there are three stories in the bible that everyone knows about. People who have never picked up a bible in their lives, know three characters from the bible – the Good Samaritan, the prodigal son, and doubting Thomas.
Everyone thinks Thomas was from Missouri – the show me state, all because he asked the resurrected Jesus to show him the nails in his hands. How did his reputation get so famous? We who have read the bible went around spreading the reputation of a fellow disciple.
When the truth is, Thomas did not ask anything of Jesus that the rest of the disciples did not already ask. We would have done the same thing.
Thomas did not do anything wrong, he was just late, late for Easter. All of the other disciples have already got the proof they were looking for. They did not believe that Jesus was alive either, until he appeared to them and talked to them. Thomas was not there at the time.
We like to give Thomas a bad reputation, because Jesus says blessed are those who don’t see and yet believe. But was he really talking about us? Are we really that faithful. If we did not see Jesus for ourselves, how many of us would be here now? If we didn’t have proof that Jesus was alive, would we be here? Probably not.

The relationship of fear and doubt
The real danger of this story is the relationship we give to fear and doubt. The relationship we give to fear and doubt. In order to make sense of this story we like to make them opposites. If you doubt, then you can’t have faith, and if you have faith you can’t have doubt. I hope that you know that is not true. We’ve all doubted something in our lives. We have all needed proof of something in our lives. We have all doubted God in some way. We all wonder whether this Christian life is all that it is cracked up to be. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t. And just as Jesus didn’t have a problem proving himself to Thomas, god shows god self time and time again.

The human need to doubt God
The humanist society was formed in 1955. It was designed for people who needed to deal with life, without having to resort to the idea that there was a God. They believed that science had an answer for everything in life. One year a distinguished scientist was asked to address the group. He explained that he was a Christian, and that he grew up in a Christian home. His parents were very religious. When he and his brother grew up, they went to college to become scientist. They became convinced that science was the answer to everything. To them religion was just some old folktale. That was until his brother died. His mother and father had the resources to deal with the unspeakable – the scientist didn’t. His mother and father had hope in the midst of pain, he didn’t. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet still believe.

It hurts to hope
We have all been in that situation where it just hurts too much to have hope. Hope just seems so far removed from our situation. The good news is that if you are ever in a situation where you can’t find God, just hold on and God will come and find you.
The disciples were upstairs locked in the upper room. Now there are not too many places in America where you can go, where you don’t lock the door. But in Jesus times, a locked door meant that you were doing something that you had no business doing. Not only did you not lock the door – you expected a spy to open your door and check on you at any time to make sure that you were doing the right thing.

God will come to you
It wasn’t privacy that caused the disciples to hide – it was fear, hopelessness, and defeat. Scripture says the doors were locked and Jesus came and stood amongst them. Here is what is so cool about that scripture. We don’t know how Jesus got in the door. Did he have the key, did he just walk through the door like a ghost. We don’t know. The point is that he got through the locked door. If you don’t know how to find god, god always knows how to find you. Just like faith and doubt are not opposites, neither are hope and fear. You can have hope in god, you can have fear – and either way God is still going to find a way to find you. Faith, doubt, hope, fear – all pathways to the same God.
Thomas was just asking for what all of the others already had. An encounter with Christ that would lead him to believe. He did say – my Lord and My God.
All Jesus was asking of Thomas was to believe in Jesus Christ are you savior. That is all Jesus asks of any of us. An experience that makes you believe….

Testimonies
Englewood will do testimonies……




Resurrection is the way we choose to live
Resurrection is not a story about Thomas being late for Easter, resurrection is a story about us, our lives, our faith, and the way we treat one another as people of faith.

3 gifts of Jesus
Jesus gave us three gifts in this story.
First he have peace, - the power to overcome doubt and fear
Second he have the Holy Spirit – the comforter that will teach you to love all
3 is the most important – the power to either forgive or hold onto the sins of others.



The power of forgiveness

Everyone has had an experience like this: You are walking through a shopping mall during a busy holiday season. People are everywhere. Shoppers are looking in stores, going into and out of shops, pushing baby buggies and carrying armloads of packages. Suddenly, and without warning, someone crashes into you. It might be just a bump, or full-on shoulder slam, but there it is. Your packages go flying; you may even lose your balance and stumble.
And then what happens?
The person who bumped you says, "I am so sorry I ran into you. I didn't even see you there. I guess I just wasn't paying attention. Please forgive me."
There it is, "Please forgive me." And of course, you do.
"Oh, it's okay. It was just an accident. Don't give it another thought."
That's the way it usually happens. But what would it be like if it happened differently? What would the reaction be if we did not forgive the accidental collision?
Imagine if the reply sounded like this: "No, I'm not going to forgive you. How could you be so careless? I could have been injured. You better hope none of my purchases are damaged because if they are, you are going to pay for them."
What would be the reaction of the person who bumped into you? Shame? Anger? Someone who already feels bad about an accident now feels even worse.
That is the deadly power of not letting something go.
And by the way, the biblical word for letting something go is "forgiveness."

Prescription or description
The key to understanding what Jesus means is to first determine if he is speaking prescriptively or descriptively.
If he is speaking prescriptively then, according to this text, Jesus has given us the power to forgive and retain sins. But if he is speaking descriptively, then the words actually serve as a warning.
It's as if Jesus said, "Be careful. You will collectively yield enormous power in the world as my followers. If you decide something is allowable, and you let it go, it will be let go. If you decide something is sinful and you condemn it, it will carry a condemnable weight. Be careful what you tell people. You may forgive something God doesn't, and you may retain something God forgives. But for the people you are forgiving or not forgiving, you may be their only access to God."

The power to let go
You can either hold on – or learn to let go. Forgive others, forgive yourself and live in the power of the resurrected Christ. But don’t be late for Easter.

Let us pray….

Blessed are Those who See and Believe

April 11, 2010
Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 5
John 20
Blessed are those who see and believe
Year C


What did Jesus say when he arose from the grave? Tada!
Resurrection was God’s great joke on the devil. A trick that he played- when he wanted to the devil to know that no matter what was tried, he could never win. He would never have the final word. That God has the power to triumph in the midst of even the worst situation. On the cross even though we heard Christ in agony and suffering, he was in on the joke – what else was there for him to say – but tada. It worked in spite of it all.

Easter is not a day – Easter is a season. It takes us awhile to get on board and to let the joke settle in for us. It takes several appearances, several sermons, several life experiences before we finally get the joke and are willing to laugh.
This second Sunday of easter is Holy humor Sunday – the day we get to laugh and sing and dance, and settle into what Easter means for us and for the world.
So in honor of holy humor Sunday, I want to give you a short test of faith. Answer whether you think these things are true or false….
Would you believe that:
Most lipstick contains fish scales. (T)
More real money is printed in the world than Monopoly money each year. (F)
No piece of square paper can be folded more than seven times. (T)
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds. (T)
The Kea bird from New Zealand likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows. (T)
The weight of all the termites in the world is 10 times heavier than the weight of all the world's humans put together. (T)
The longest bout of hiccups lasted ten years. (F. Charles Osborne had them for 69 years!)
A cockroach can live several weeks without a head - afterwards it will die of starvation. (T)
Toenails grow faster than fingernails. (F) fingernails grow 4 X's as fast as toenails.
The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old. (T)


The themes for today are doubt, belief and witness. I plan for us to focus on the lessons of acts and John for the year – and those are the themes of the day. Doubt, belief and witness.
The gospel lesson for today is always focuses on the story of Thomas. Some call him doubting Thomas – because he did not believe that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead- until he had proof for himself. The nails in his hands, the hole in his side. All of which Jesus was able to provide for him. But the word for this story that we interpret as doubt actually means more distrust. He didn’t doubt that Jesus had risen from the dead, he just want not able to accept that fact right off, without some further understanding. Sort of like I would need to believe that no square piece of paper can be folded for more than 8 times. That might actually be true – but I will have to try that for myself in order to really believe that is it true.
Jesus days that blessed are those who believe but have not seen. He is not criticizing Thomas for asking for proof. He is saying that there will be times when we will have to answer whether something is true or false- and we wont have time to look at the encyclopedia – we will just have to use what we have to answer the question.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead – true or false. Do you believe that was the greatest trick that God could have played ? True of false. How do you know your answer is true or not?
It all comes down to what you believe about Christ. In researching this sermon - I came across this question – what do you think is the greatest joke that God ever played on us. It is a yahoo question, and people recorded their answers. Some people said to make everything that we enjoy a sin. Someone else said making us all different colors, races and believing in different religions. Someone else said George Bush. I think that the greatest joke that God every played on us is Easter. Forcing us to believe in the impossible, forcing us to celebrate a phenonmen that we don’t understand. Asking us to believe something that we will never see. Did Christ really conquer death and come back to life. We will never get the chance to see the nails and the hole. We cant see – we can only believe. We can only trust the witness of Thomas, Mary and Peter.
Easter is not about what happened to Jesus, it is about how those who saw what happened responded. In Each Easter appearance Jesus gives them the holy spirit and they respond. When Thomas receives the spirit he declares that Jesus is his lord and his God
During the seven weeks of Easter – we read from the book of acts – the book of what the holy spirit did. Usually it is stories of how the church grew, but this year it is stories of how individuals were affected when they came in contact with the holy spirit.
After Jesus was crucified, the disciples were told that they were to forget all about this man and what he did (as if that were really possible), yet they needed to be witnesses for the spirit an tell others what they saw. So they were jailed. When questioned their defense was that they were doing what God told them to do and they had to do what God said and not what man said. One lone Jewish leader – Gemeliail defended them, saying that if what they were doing was from God, then who could stop them, if it was not then it would stop itself. An angel freed them and they continued to be witnesses for God. Telling others that jesus was alive. God demands that task of all of us – to be witnesses of the Easter Jesus. To doubt Easter, to believe Easter and to witness Easter- tell the world what we saw when Jesus appeared to us in Easter.
My favorite story of easter and how it affects us is the story of the families of the coal miners in West Virginia. I remember in 2006, watching the tv constantly for word of what was happening to the miners. I was there when they announced that the had been found alive, and I was awake at two in the morning when the story broke tht they had been found dead. The nation went into mourning. This time there was not the same emotional coverage as there was then, but they did keep us up to date on what was going on. All day Friday they told us what they were doing to look for the 4 miners who may be still alive. The told us when they were going on and how they were going to do it. I was not near a tv when they finally announced that they had found the 4 and they they were not alive. I could imagine the roller coaster ride of all of the families, as they had not told who was dead and who was alive. And now hope was gone – they were all gone. The governor’s emotional words – we were hoping for a miracle – and it did not happen. The journey has ended and now the healing must begin.
That is what easter is all about – is being able to find hope in the deepest darkest moment and knowing that God has demanded that life must go on. Even in a tradgedy – the living Christ is there – and is saying tada – death does not get to have the final word. Because the holy spirit has a job to do. To be a witness of what God can do. God can turn darkness into light, despair into joy, a bad moment into a good, hopelessness into hope. Just as God bought jesus back to life, god does all of the work – but someone has to testify and witness that they saw the work done.
What about you – what is your easter story ? as you look for the green grass, the growing flowers, the budding trees – how do you see God at work? At play? Telling jokes, some of them funny – all of them joyful. Remember – some of god’s greatest miracles start out in the form of a question, an occasion for distrust, an opportunity to ask God how are you going to work that one out – a chance not to nessarily doubt god – but to distrust what your senses are showing you. You know jesus is alive in that situation – when you believe – believe that your lord and your savior is speaking to you, and asking for a witness that the holy spirit is at work in your and in the world – bringing about a transformation. A change- a new risen savior. Let us pray….