Just When You Think You're Settled, Trips, Travels and Journeys, SOJ, July 2, 2023

In the middle of a move to Missouri for internship, I received an email from Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church Pastor Sharon Brown in Clarkdale, AZ. She was doing a service of travels, trips and journeys for the weekend of July 4, 2023, and who better to talk about journeys than their seminarian, in the middle of yet another one! I recorded the sermon for them for their weekend services.

Grace and Peace to you, from God our Creator, and from Jesus, who is our Christ.

On the move. How fitting that Pastor Sharon asked me to give the reflection to you at Spirit of Joy this week about journeys, when so many things are in flux. As you hear these words Sunday, I bring you greetings from Chesterfield, Missouri, where Mike and I have landed for the next year as I begin my final year of seminary as an intern pastor, a vicar, at Trinity Lutheran Church. I also bring you greetings from my seminary community, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, which just completed its move after 55 years on Hyde Park’s East 55th Street to co-locate with Catholic Theological Union near Chicago’s lakefront. So much change! So many endings and new beginnings!

So, just when you think you’re set and settled in, don’t be surprised if God has other plans. I’m sure Abram and Sarai could relate to that. A child-free couple in their 70s, living on the land, accompanied by their nephew, servants, and all the livestock they could handle. I’m sure they expected to live out their days that way. Then, God approached Abram with a call – THE CALL. You, Abram and Sarai. You, childless ones. You, with no particular claim to fame. You will now be called Abraham and Sarah. I have chosen YOU to be the beginning of an entire chosen people.

“Go. To the land that I will show you.” Go out, to a new and unknown place. Following a call requires a lot of trust.

In 2016, I was working as a vocational specialist at West Yavapai Guidance Clinic, helping people with mental illnesses find jobs. Not an easy job. It often takes a couple of tries before these clients find the right fit. I was no one special. Our son Michael had moved to Portland, Oregon, and we were empty-nesters. I expected to work there until I retired, perhaps in another 10 or 12 years. But God had other plans. A year later, I was submitting my candidacy paperwork to the Grand Canyon Synod office, starting the process to become an ordained pastor.

Last year we sold our home in Prescott Valley and moved to Chicago. And this spring, we prayed for God to prepare the place where we would go for internship and start preparing the place that would be my first call a year later. And as God called Abraham and Sarah, God still is calling old and young people to “Go. To the land that I will show you.”

* * *

You do realize that some churches have existed 50 or even 100 years and have never had anyone experience a call to rostered ministry? While Mike and I are members of Emmanuel Lutheran across the hill, the experience of chartering Spirit of Joy was another milepost on my way to recognizing my call. Along with Pastor Bruce Lerum, Spirit of Joy has been instrumental in the calling of TWO pastors so far. There is something special happening here. The Spirit is at work, giving people a vocation, a direction, a call. And God is not just calling ordained pastors. Each one of you. God has gathered you here, is preparing you, and is sending you out to serve, Gather. Prepare. Serve – G.P.S. The original GPS.

* * *

Do you listen for God’s direction in your life? Many years ago, my brother was stuck. He and his family were faithful worshipers, active in Bible study. He had opened a business, but it wasn’t lucrative enough to support his family. He didn’t know what God had in mind for him next. And that was the conversation he had with some men from his congregation: What am I to do now? I feel like I’m drifting. I’m waiting for direction from God, and I’m not hearing anything. One of these men told my brother “God can’t steer a parked car.” God can use whatever you do for good. God can even direct your steps as you go. Just keep moving.

I think the Psalmist understood that thought. Listen to those words from Psalm 139:

“You know when I sit down and when I rise up; 
you discern my thoughts from far away. 
You search out my path and my lying down 
and are acquainted with all my ways…” 
And then the Psalmist continues: 
“If I take the wings of the morning 
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
even there your hand shall lead me, 
and your right hand shall hold me fast.” 

If we are walking with God, those steps are being directed. God knows what we are thinking, the roads we are traveling, what we are doing. No matter the path we take, God’s hand is guiding us. In my own life, even the roads that looked like dead-ends to me at the time, or were difficult or painful episodes, in retrospect were occasions that I learned something I needed for the future.

* * *

In the short passage that we heard from Mark’s gospel, Jesus gives Simon and his colleagues a training in a handful of words. In just five verses, Jesus guides his followers in the rhythm of living as disciples. First, he goes off to pray. We should begin our days and our work in prayer. It’s important! Second, the disciples searched for him. We need to actively discern what Jesus is calling us to do. And third, they went off into the neighboring towns, where Jesus proclaimed the message and healed. We need to get outside of our walls and serve in whatever ways we determine we are being called to act.

Take heart, Spirit of Joy. God is with you as you journey, as you seek to determine how God is calling you to do ministry here at this place and throughout the entire Verde Valley. God’s Spirit is up to something in the people gathered, prepared, and serving here. Stay in prayer, seek our Christ’s purpose, and get out into the community to serve out that purpose. I am praying that God, who began good work in you, and in this place, will grow and perfect it in the years ahead. Until I can be with you again and Mike as well, trust in God’s call and keep moving ahead! Amen.

Meeting the Risen Christ, Easter 4A, April 30, 2023

Somehow, the disciple Thomas follows me wherever I go. Emmanuel, Spirit of Joy and for this sermon, Pilgrim. I was supposed to preach my final Ministry In Context field placement sermon at Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School in Chicago on Good Shepherd Sunday, Easter 4A. But since a guest preacher wanted that text the Sunday after Easter, we flipped and picked up Thomas on Easter 4.

Slide 1 (Title slide)

What DO you believe in?

What do you believe in so completely that it would be difficult if not impossible to shake it? What events, principles and institutions do you trust so thoroughly that you would stake your life on them?

After the past few years, I think that list has dwindled for many of us. We’ve struggled to keep our faith in things we once considered trustworthy beyond question:

• After nearly 7 million people died from Covid-19, many of us no longer trust institutions like the Centers for Disease Control, or even trust our neighbors to do what is necessary to keep us safe during a deadly pandemic.
• After so many mass shootings in this country, with no end in sight, we don’t trust that our elected officials are acting in our best interests.
• With most scientific minds in agreement that we’re going to need to change the way we behave to have a livable planet, we don’t trust that our children and grandchildren will have the same opportunities and a better life than we had.
• With our media pandering to the left and to the right, we don’t trust that our news reports represent the truth.

That’s my short list. I imagine you have a list like this, too.

So I ask again, what DO you believe in?

Today’s gospel asks us to ponder that question. We find ourselves with Jesus’ closest followers: on Easter night, most of them were gathered in Jerusalem. It is three days after Jesus, their teacher was crucified. A few women said they saw Jesus early this morning, and he said he was going on to meet the disciples in Galilee; Peter had gone into the tomb and he reports seeing the discarded grave cloths. Cleopas and another follower just ran back all the way from Emmaus where they believe they met Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

Mind you, these are folks who are still on edge – their fears are very real. It the Romans could crucify Jesus for riling up the city, what will they do if these disciples start spreading the news that this Jesus rose from the dead? No doubt, their conversations center on what they believe, and what will they do with their beliefs.

Slide 2

Suddenly, Jesus is standing there with them.

This group of disciples saw the risen Christ – saw him, heard him, felt his presence among them. They had no doubt Christ had risen, risen as he said he would. What a celebration that must have been!

Somehow, though, Thomas missed out. Our text doesn’t tell us where Thomas was, just that he wasn’t with the other 10. If we remember our last words with Thomas, he was the one that convinced the disciples to leave the Jordan for Bethany and Jerusalem, even if it meant dying with Jesus. So, some people have suggested Thomas was out looking for his Lord. Just the kinda guy Thomas was. Whatever the explanation for his absence, Thomas missed it. The Celebration. The Rejoicing. The Big Reveal.

So, I think Thomas gets a terribly bad rap from gospel writer John, who tells us that Thomas insisted on seeing Jesus’ wounds before he would believe. That and Jesus’ response have given Thomas a dreadful nickname through the church’s history: Doubting Thomas. Completely unwarranted in my book. Wouldn’t you want to know for sure if you were among the disciples? The others saw Jesus, touched his wounds. Why would we expect anything different from Thomas?

Slide 3

So, a week later, Thomas is with them. And Jesus joins them again. And you hear something from Thomas that is missing from the week before – a testimony: Thomas recognizes Jesus, sees his wounds and exclaims: “My Lord and My God!” No holding back. No uncertainty. No doubts. A declaration of faith in five words: “My Lord and My God.” No one else had that kind of immediate, profound response. So I’ve always preferred to call Thomas “Faithful Thomas.” “Believing Thomas.” “Trusting Thomas.”

So where does that leave us, nearly two millennia after the Resurrection? The ones who saw the empty tomb and the Risen Savior have been long gone since the early second century. We can’t talk to anyone who knew Jesus, much less reach out and touch Jesus’ hands and feet and side. Twenty generations have passed between us and those who saw the resurrected Jesus.

Perhaps it was not Thomas, but disciples like us that Jesus was addressing when he said “Blessed are those who have not seen but yet have come to believe.”

Blessed are we, who come together, week after week, to worship the Risen Christ that we confess, though we have never seen him…

…Or have we? Have we never seen Jesus?

Perhaps none of us were there that night, but, for one, I know I’ve seen Jesus. I’ve had the privilege of serving the past eight months at Pilgrim, working alongside you, sharing conversations and building relationships. And while I’ve been here, I’ve seen Jesus. I have. I’d like to tell you where that’s happened:  

• I’ve seen Jesus in people who week after week gather to prepare hot meals for people who are hungry, not only for food, but also for a kind word, a place to belong. I know I’ve seen Jesus at Hot Meals.
• I’ve seen Jesus in people who care deeply about worship – people who practice and lead music, who bake bread and prepare communion. I’ve seen Jesus in our young people who faithfully show up to carry the cross and serve as acolytes. I’ve seen Jesus in multimedia technicians who work behind the scenes to carry our worship to those who cannot get to this place. I’ve seen Jesus in our worship.
•  I’ve seen Jesus in people who make sure people who have mobility challenges get to worship and are taken Holy Communion in their homes and hospital beds. I’ve seen Jesus in the way that you care for the least, the longing, the lonely. I’ve seen Jesus among the Care Team. 
• I’ve seen Jesus in our staff: in our pastor who is sometimes sending emails after midnight and with his family have opened their home to people, teaching hospitality without preaching a word. I see Jesus in the diligence of each of our staff: the mix of seriousness and joy in their work. I see Jesus in two interim school administrators who stepped up when they were needed, and in every teacher who puts in a full day here, then goes home and grades papers and creates projects and participates in fund-raising and service projects. Pilgrim staff – I’ve seen Jesus in you.

I could do this all day but indulge me just one more sighting: I’ve seen Jesus on Zoom. Yes, Jesus on Zoom! I’ve seen Jesus in a group who assembles every single Saturday morning to pray for the ministries of this congregation, for our kids, Pilgrim School, people who are sick or in need, for the needs of the community, the nation and the world. I have never experienced anything like it, and if you’ve never logged on, you should make time some Saturday morning at 8:30. Prayer team – I’ve seen Jesus in you.

I suspect that there have been a few Jesus sightings among you as well. Places where the Risen Christ is present for you. Here, in the body of Christ, gathered to worship, to serve, to build relationships. We occasionally hear “Jesus sightings” in Mission Moments and Testimonies. Perhaps “Jesus sightings” need to be a regular part of our life together as Easter People.

That’s because I am convinced that the way that our Christian faith is sustained in this age, this time in which our faith in so many other things is shaken, is through our relationships with others. Other Christ-followers who have seen the risen Christ. And those who need to hear about those Jesus sightings to grow and sustain their faith. We feed each other every time we gather, at the Lord’s table and around the fellowship table. At our Bible studies and at choir practice. At church council and at the quilting group. This is why we can’t do our Christian faith alone To become Jesus’ disciples, we need one another.

Slide 4

Pastor Kyle Childress explained it this way: 

"Sometimes we have to keep at it in order to get it. We keep talking, keep showing up in worship, keep praying, keep singing hymns, keep forgiving and receiving forgiveness, keep feeding the hungry and giving a cup of cool water in his name, keep practicing the Way of Jesus and we too will see the Risen Jesus. By our continuing dialogue with Jesus, we are trained and taught by him in how to see him. It is as if the scales slowly fall from our eyes, and one day we look up and we recognize the Risen Christ in ways and places we never had before. He was in front of our noses the whole time. "

Final Slide (Title Slide Again)

Pilgrim, my time with you is growing short. So just a few more thoughts for you:

Keep loving each other and loving the world. Keep worshiping together and welcoming everyone, including those the world struggles to include. Keep doing life together, even when it’s challenging. Keep forgiving one another, because we are all broken and in need of grace. And while we keep walking the Way of Jesus, day by day, moment by moment, look around. Look around and see the Risen Christ in this place, and in each other.

Amen.

Dirty Feet, Holy Week, Pilgrim Chapel, April 6, 2023

During my Ministry in Context Field Placement at Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School, I was fortunate to speak to the Pilgrim School students during Holy Week on the Maundy Thursday text about Jesus washing the disciples' feet.

Slide 1

Feet. Dirty Feet.

You would think that in chapel during Holy Week, there would be a different scripture than one that describes Jesus Washing Dirty Feet! Something that sounds a little more sacred. OK, something a little cleaner and prettier. There’s four whole gospels to pick from, and today, our scripture is about Washing Dirty Feet!??

Actually, we talk about dirty feet, not because of the washing, but because of the person who does the washing. Jesus.

Slide 2

Get ready to imagine with me for a minute. This is the night that Pastor talks about every week in worship, during communion. He says, “In the night in which Jesus was betrayed.” This is THAT night, Holy Thursday, the night before Good Friday. Jesus is having dinner with his 12 disciples, all by themselves. No servants. Jesus knows this will be the last time he can eat and talk with them before he is arrested, then put to death on a cross. That’s why we sometimes call it “The Last Supper.”

Now, 2,000 years ago, people usually wore robes and sandals. And the roads and sidewalks in Jerusalem weren’t all paved like they are in Chicago. By evening, people’s feet were sweaty and dirty. And so, before dinner, they would take off their sandals, and get their feet washed.

Usually, there was someone around to do this: maybe a servant or a kid. But tonight it was just them, Jesus and the disciples. All of them were sitting near the table. No one went to fill the basin. Because whatever disciple did it was doing a dirty job. The other disciples would think less of that disciple. So no one moved.

Imagine you were Jesus, watching and waiting for a disciple to do the right thing. He had been teaching them for three years that love meant humbling yourself and serving others. And his disciples STILL didn’t get it. In his first teaching, he said Blessed are the poor, and the merciful, and the meek. Those who aren’t powerful are the ones who are blessed. And he kept on saying it. Just a little while back, Jesus had to set John and James straight about wanting to be the star disciples, the ones that sat next to him in heaven. He told them the LAST would be FIRST. And here they are, their last night with Jesus, and still, nobody had understood Jesus’ lesson about serving. I’m pretty sure Jesus was disappointed in them.

Slide 3

And so on his last night with his disciples, Jesus, the teacher, taught them one last time what love was like. He got up, filled the basin, grabbed a towel, and washed 12 mens’ sweaty, stinky, dirty, dusty FEET.

Imagine now that you were one of the disciples. You didn’t want to get the basin because you didn’t want to admit you were the least important of the disciples. And now your teacher, Jesus, is washing your feet. Do you feel bad that you didn’t get up sooner and do the job? Peter must have. He stops Jesus -- “Lord, are you going to wash MY feet? …You will never wash my feet.”

Jesus tells him he must. And Peter goes overboard – “Then wash my hands and my head too!” What was Peter asking? When in church do we wash someone’s head? That’s right – Peter wanted Jesus to baptize him! And Jesus had to tell him no – that wasn’t what this was about. He then told the disciples – I’ve washed your feet, from now on, wash each other’s feet.

Slide 4

Today, we don’t wash people’s feet when they come to dinner. (But that would be funny, wouldn’t it?) Can you think of a dirty job that needs to be done, maybe around your house? Something that needs to be done, but nobody likes doing it, because it’s a dirty job: 

• Cleaning the toilet 
• Taking out the trash 
• Changing your baby brother or sister’s diaper 
• Washing dishes or loading the dishwasher 
• Mopping the floor
• Doing the laundry
• Cleaning the cat’s litter box
• Washing the dog when he goes out in the mud or rain?

Jesus said, “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”

Slide 5

There are going to be dirty jobs to do in this world. Jesus was telling us that we aren’t supposed to consider ourselves as being too good – or sometimes we use the world “privileged” – we shouldn’t believe we’re too privileged to do the dirty work that needs to be done. We need to care for one another – our families, our classmates, our teachers, our neighbors – and do the dirty and hard jobs in this world, serving each other, to be the kind of people Jesus wants us to be. Loving and serving. That’s something we all can do.

And all God’s kids said: AMEN!

 

Alive But Not Unbound, LSTC Echols, Lent 5A, March 27, 2023

This was my second entry into LSTC's James Kenneth Echols Preaching Celebration in 2023. I was one of two co-finalists who preached the sermon in person during the final event at LSTC's historic building at 1100 E 55th St. My colleague Katie Mueller was the other co-finalist.

Did a scripture passage ever make you wonder “What happened next?”

The Bible is not like a novel, in which all the loose ends of characters’ lives are tied up at the end. We’re not sure what happens to Jesus’ good friend Lazarus after Jesus restores his life. We know all too well what happens to Jesus.

This story is the tipping point in the gospel of John. Already in Chapter 7, we learn some Pharisees want to imprison this itinerant teacher who has performed six miraculous signs and has stirred up Judea. Just before this passage, Jesus barely escaped Jerusalem during the feast of the Dedication, after a mob heard him teaching that he is one with God, and they nearly stoned him to death for blasphemy. So, Jesus and his followers regroup across the Jordan, away from Judea. Now, three years later, Jesus is back where it all began, at the Jordan. Jesus is teaching when he receives the word: Come at once: your friend Lazarus is dying.

The siblings Mary, Martha and Lazarus are Jesus’ chosen family. Their home in Bethany has been his place of refuge. One would expect that Jesus would leave immediately to get there, to have a chance to make a difference. However, it is also in Judea, just two miles outside Jerusalem, a dangerous place for Jesus to be. Probably with his disciples’ encouragement, Jesus stays and teaches for two more days, then says, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples know nothing they say will stop Jesus from this journey and what is to come. Bluntly honest, Thomas speaks what they all are thinking: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Two days later, Jesus and his disciples arrive in Bethany. Lazarus had died the day Jesus received the sisters’ message. Yet, in their pain, both sisters speak harsh words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

To translate Mary and Martha’s grief-filled words, they had given in to hopelessness. In the Jewish faith, people typically are buried the day they die. The soul, it is believed, leaves the body after three days. It was now Day 4 – and past the point of no return. Jesus was met, first by Martha, who professes her faith in the resurrection to come. Jesus readjusts the frame: “Not someday, Martha, today. Not somewhere, Martha, here. Right here, right now. Do you believe?”

“Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the One coming into the world.” Despite her grief, Martha speaks the most profound faith statement in the Gospels.

Martha and Jesus then join up with Mary. Jesus accompanies them to the tomb, ostensibly to grieve with them. Deeply moved, Jesus weeps. Then in a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own resurrection, Jesus commands the stone be rolled away. He performs his seventh and final sign: “Lazarus, come out!” followed by, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

What happened to Lazarus next? The story doesn’t tell what happens to Lazarus after Jesus brought him back to life. We learn that some tried to kill him. If he wasn’t killed, did Lazarus forever have to live with the whispers and finger-pointing ... "There, he’s the one who was dead." Perhaps after a while, the novelty wore off and Lazarus may have wished he had never been brought back to life. Perhaps there was some survivor’s guilt that his resurrection, this final sign, led to Jesus’ crucifixion.

Throughout my previous work in human services, I met a lot of Lazaruses, but one sticks with me:

This man had experienced one tragedy after another. A severely abusive father who beat him and his brother. A serious car wreck that he barely survived. An industrial accident that messed up his ankle. Then, a cancer diagnosis.

He wanted to financially provide for his wife, but one thing or another stopped him. His injuries prevented him from doing physical labor; his PTSD was a barrier to anything stressful. One employer after another rejected him. Then his wife left him.

I heard the echoes of Lazarus in his frustration: “I’m alive, but I can’t really live. I’m still bound and no one will set me free.”

He’s not the only one – the cries of Lazarus are everywhere in our world. Tell me if you’re heard them too: Freed from a tomb at the Department of Corrections but bound by a felony record.

• Freed from the tomb of society’s mis-gendering and misunderstanding but bound by discrimination and the costs of medical and legal processes.
• Freed from the tomb of addictions but bound by a track record of job losses.
• Freed from the tomb of an abusive marriage but bound by a lack of work history and the high cost of childcare.
• Freed from the tomb of a life-threatening illness but bound by income limitations to keep Medicare and Medicaid.
• Freed from a tomb of an unsafe country but bound by the rules of asylum petitions in our country.

Every one, a Lazarus brought to life, but still bound. Trapped between what is, and what could be. Certainly not living the abundant life that God meant for all people.

It’s necessary and a privilege to feed the hungry, provide shelter to the unhoused, to visit the prisoner, to wholeheartedly support Pride, Reproductive Rights, and Black Lives Matter events. But it doesn’t remove the binding of systemic injustice. It doesn’t restore equity to all people.

It doesn't set them free.

What if we went all out, and followed Jesus’ instructions to unbind the Lazaruses of our world and set them free? What would God’s liberating freedom look like? I’m not certain – but I once caught a glimpse of it.

On God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday 2016, a young man and his mother sat amidst our congregation. Kind of a surprise, because it was a short service of sending, to bless us to do God’s work in our communities. In his homily, my pastor revealed he had come to know the young man through a request to perform some community service hours. He had every intention of completing the hours, but between his work and a health condition, the burden had become great. An unbinding had become necessary.

So, on that day, with the council’s blessing, this young man – no longer a stranger, but our neighbor – was released from his burden by the combined service hours of 18 service projects, hundreds of volunteer hours. Words from that ritual in the worship service echo even now: “That he be set free. That he stand tall in Christ.” And as he rose in that moment, he DID stand tall among us. He was unbound – set free for a different future. (Yeah, it still chokes me up.)

It takes both emergency relief AND advocacy to break down the barriers that prevent people from living lives of joy and freedom. None of us can do it all, but I believe we were ALL given a spirit of justice and a vision of the kin-dom set right, as it should be. It’s part of your vocation, not in some future call, but now, right here at LSTC. You may be the person volunteering at the food bank while I write letters to legislators, asking them to continue support for SNAP, meals for seniors and school children, and immigration reform. You may take the gospel and the Eucharist to those behind bars while another mentors youth with the goal of ending the school-to-prison pipeline. While volunteers with The Night Ministry are bringing food and supplies to unhoused individuals, a busload of people from an interfaith coalition is rallying at the capitol for more affordable housing. As our grateful response for God’s grace setting us free, we have MORE than enough to do in this world!!

In our gospel today, I wondered, what happens next for Lazarus? John really never gives us the answer – only that Jesus not only resurrected him but unbound him and set him free.

What we will do with this message in 2023 and beyond remains to be seen. We still are living the question, searching for answers. What I do know is this: We do our work of Christ when we see and hear our neighbors and accompany them in removing the structural barriers that hold them back. We CANNOT do it alone, but I am convinced, we ARE here, answering this call, to ignite the fires of justice in our churches and communities. We are the peace-bringers AND the waymakers. We are the inspired AND the inspiration. We are the visionaries AND the hands and feet. We are the Church …the Public Church … the now AND not yet. We are called not only to share pastoral and prophetic words, but also to unbind Lazarus wherever we find him.

He Came By Night, Pilgrim, Lent 2A, March 5, 2023

This was my third sermon at my Ministry in Context Field Placement at Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School in my third year at LSTC.

Children's Sermon

Did you ever have a question about God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

· Where does God hang out?

· What was Jesus like as a little boy?

· Why do people talk about God as up there?

· Does God hear all our prayers?

· Will my dog or cat go to heaven?

· Why aren’t dinosaurs in the Bible?

· What will heaven be like?

· Did God write the Bible?

· Do you think grown-ups have questions too? Let’s find out…

In the Gospel today, we read a story about Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a pretty important guy. He was a Jewish leader, and a member of the council, called the Sanhedrin. He was the person people came to for answers. So he didn’t want people to know he had questions, so he went at night, when it was dark and no one was out and asked Jesus his questions.

So when you have questions about God and about your faith, it’s completely OK to ask them. You don’t have to be afraid to ask them, like Nicodemus. Because asking questions is the only way to learn, no matter if you are a kid or an adult.

Sermon

Title Slide

Let us pray,

Good and Gracious God, Help us live into the questions of our faith, trusting that while we can only know in part today, one day we will know you fully, just as we are fully known by you. Amen

“He came to Jesus by night.”

In his Gospel, John emphasizes the setting of this story of Nicodemus’ meeting with Jesus. As a Pharisee, and probably a member of the Jewish council known as the Sanhedrin, his appearance as an upstanding, faithful Jewish man would be beyond question. He would not want to be observed talking to the itinerant teacher who had just – at least in John’s version of events – caused a stir at a wedding in Cana then created chaos at the temple marketplace. But here he was, under the cover of nightfall, talking with Jesus of Nazareth.

I’ve always thought this story makes Nicodemus look a little foolish. Sneaking around, asking a couple of awkward questions, then disappearing into the night. Nicodemus shows up only in John’s gospel, where he manages three separate appearances.

Nicodemus is not celebrated as a saint in the Lutheran Church as he is in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. You won’t find Nicodemus on the Lutheran calendar of lesser festivals and commemorations. Some scholars and pastors believe that the story of Nicodemus never would have been included in the lectionary, the Bible passages we read in worship, except as a set-up to read John 3:16, which Martin Luther called “the Gospel in miniature”:

Slide

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Certainly no verse in scripture has been learned by as many Christians – children and adults – as John 3:16. And no Bible verse has showed up as much in secular culture, from billboards to major sporting events. No matter your faith background or lack of it, we who live here in the United States are used to seeing John 3:16 signs on the news or while watching a playoff game.

But John 3:16 is far more than a trope. John 3:16 was a message of life and peace to a curious Jewish leader, and by extension, a message of life and peace to all of us.

Slide

Let’s examine this encounter a bit more closely. Nicodemus’ first statement to Jesus begins with a plural pronoun: “Rabbi, WE know that you are a teacher who has come from God…” Did Nicodemus come as the envoy for a group of Pharisees who were curious about this Jesus? Or was Nicodemus trying to ascribe more power to his questions by implying that he wasn’t acting alone? Jesus responds to Nicodemus individually, but his challenge is given in the plural you: “All y’all must be born again.”

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus certainly know about baptism. It had been used for centuries – although not universally – as a purification rite for Gentiles converting to Judaism, or for a ritually impure person to become clean again. So Nicodemus isn’t being sarcastic or disingenuous when he tells Jesus he can’t return to his mother’s womb. He’s trying to rule out what Jesus can’t be telling him: “Obviously, we can’t be physically born again, so that’s not what you’re saying. Be born again? How can I become a Jew when I’m already Jewish?” Jesus tells him, “No – not just immersion. Be born of water and the Spirit.”

By this point, Nicodemus must have been looking really puzzled, as Jesus describes how the Spirit moves. What had started as a curious question, a reassurance that Jesus was a prophet sent by God in whom Nicodemus could put his trust, Jesus had turned into a challenge: “All y’all must be born anew, born from above.”

By this time Nicodemus was really exasperated: “How can these things be?”

Jesus said the signs are there – Nicodemus and others merely need to open their eyes and minds. Short of taking them to heaven, he couldn’t make it clearer. Then he foreshadowed what was going to happen to him: “The Son must be lifted up,”

Slide

And then Jesus gives Nicodemus that well-known assurance: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” So much to unpack in one short verse:

· The whole world – in Greek, the Kosmos, so God loves all creation

· Jesus, God’s Son – the promise is fulfilled through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

· For everyone. This promise excludes no one.

· Eternal life. The promise that we will experience resurrection and everlasting life with God

· Believe. Since our faith is a gift from the Spirit, we just have to be open to believing.

The text doesn’t say that Nicodemus was baptized, or that he fell down on his knees before Jesus. The verses don’t even mention when he slipped back into the shadows. One can imagine that Nicodemus left, his head churning with new information, caught in the cognitive dissonance, the gap between what he thought he knew as a Pharisee and a Jewish leader, and who Jesus was claiming to be – God’s Son.

Slide

There are people in the Bible who have spectacular conversion moments. God appears to Abram, and he and Sarai take their family and their livestock and go, believing in God’s promise. Jesus calls Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and immediately, they leave their nets and follow. Christian persecutor Saul gets hit by a lightning bolt and becomes Paul, apostle to the Gentiles. Even Martin Luther had a “come to Jesus” moment in a storm and gave up his dad’s dream for him to become a lawyer and took his priestly vows. It’s not hard to find stories of people who had instant conversions.

Slide

Nicodemus, I would suggest, is the patron saint of the rest of us.

· Those of us who left the faith after confirmation and came back in a midlife crisis.

· Those of us who had questions and were never given the space to ask, or worse, were reprimanded for asking.

· Those of us who never grew up with Christian parents and came to faith through an invitation.

· Those of us who went to Christian schools and eventually rediscovered the joy of learning and growing in faith.

· Those of us who were hurt by a church leader.

· Those of us who felt unheard, unloved, or rejected.

· Those of us who felt a call to serve but didn’t say “Yes” immediately.

· Those of us who wonder, who wander, who stumble, who seek.

Slide

You see, Nicodemus doesn’t leave this encounter, never to be seen or heard from again. John uses Nicodemus as the model of people who caught a spark of this movement, let it kindle within them, and eventually followed this Jesus. A few chapters later, when the Pharisees and chief priests first consider imprisoning him, it is none other than Nicodemus who defends Jesus, telling his colleagues that Jesus deserves a fair trial at the very least.

And Nicodemus continues to grow in faith and curiosity. When Jesus finally does come to trial and is sentenced to death by crucifixion, Nicodemus doesn’t abandon him. Instead, according to John, it was Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who take Jesus’ body from the cross and cover it with spices to give him a proper burial.

Slide

So the next time you see John 3:16 on a sign – on a billboard, a bumper sticker, painted on an overpass or wherever it shows up – remember the promise. For everyone. For you. Say it with me:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Final Slide

And remember that Jesus came for everyone, the whole world, to all who believe, no matter what our backgrounds, no matter how many questions we have, and no matter how long it takes us to get from “How can that be?” to “I believe.

 

Living Ready, Pilgrim, Advent 1A, Nov 27, 2022

My second sermon at Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School during my Ministry in Context Field Placement in 2022-23 during my third year at LSTC.

Title Slide

Happy New Year! Today is truly the New Year, for the church, as we joyfully await and prepare annually to welcome Immanuel, God With Us, our God who became human in order to show us the way of Love and Life!

The next few weeks are designed to help prepare our hearts and minds through themes of hope, peace, joy, and love for Jesus’s coming. We who live in the middle of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection 2,000 years ago, and Jesus’ return in the soon but not yet, know that the season of Advent touches on both the incarnation and the Second Coming

Gospel of Matthew slide

First, let’s meet our writer for the majority of the gospel lessons over the next year. The gospel of Matthew is traditionally ascribed to the disciple Matthew, for a community of Jewish Christians, written about 35-40 years after Jesus’ resurrection. They lived in eager anticipation of the return of Christ and expected it to happen in their lifetimes. And with every year that passed, people became more confused, complacent, or downright cynical about the idea that Jesus was coming back at all.

So, Matthew’s gospel spoke to his generation and the generations to come about preparing for that moment, that hour, that day, that much-awaited event. There’s an emphasis on time, both Kronos (or clock time) and Kairos (which means God’s time). And that’s where the text has taken on a life of its own:

Matthew 24:40-44

Then two will be in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken, and one will be left. Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Those verses have been used by faith leaders and writers to create anxiety, dread, and fear – pretty much anything but Hope, Peace, Joy and Love!

Preaching about the Rapture, sermons about the End Times, the Left Behind series of fiction novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, and similar apocalyptic writings have created among some Christians a culture and attitude of fear, of not being good enough to spend eternity with God.

I am convinced that Matthew had no agenda with this text to create fearful, paralyzed disciples of Jesus who were terrified about their loved ones being whisked away mid-sentence and being left behind because they weren’t prepared. These Christians in the latter part of the first century had enough to be frightened about.

Siege of Jerusalem slide:

In the year 70, the Roman empire destroyed the temple and overran Jerusalem. These followers’ lives were hard enough, believing in Jesus the Christ when other Jewish people still awaited the Messiah’s coming. We know they had challenges. We read in Paul’s letters when he and others were starting churches, they were collecting money for the church in Jerusalem.

So, when Matthew recalled the words of Jesus to be prepared, he was using them to rally the followers of The Way into joyous hope! Keep awake! Be ready! Jesus is coming soon! Really! Keep the faith!!!

What do we, as Christians, do with these texts in 2022, when Jesus still hasn’t come? Are we any different than Matthew’s early Christians? Aren’t some of us a little confused, complacent or downright cynical about the idea that Jesus could show up any day?

Save the Date slide

I know people who belong to churches whose leaders keep making predictions about the day of Jesus’ return. Many of those dates have passed. So the leaders read some more, recalculate, and give their followers a new date that Jesus is surely coming back. Talk about FOMO: the Fear of Missing Out.

But how did the Gospel today end: Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Every morning when I was young, my mom stood watch at our kitchen window, looking south over County Highway K, waiting for a glimpse of red flashing lights a mile and a half up the road, telling us it was time to run down our long driveway in time to catch the school bus. But there are no flashing lights, no billboards, no true predictions to tell us Jesus is coming. Nowhere in the Bible does it say when it will be. We have to live ready.

So what does “living ready” look like? I can think of three things that mark people who are living ready.

Living Ready 1 slide

First, people who live ready believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

OK, this seems obvious, but it’s a very serious matter. We asked our three confirmands about their belief in Jesus Christ just three weeks ago. We asked Camryn’s parents and sponsors last weekend at her baptism. As part of our worship, we profess our faith through the Apostles’ Creed almost every week. Why? It is ultimately a statement of belief AND belonging. As Ben Sternke put it:

“To say ‘I believe…’ is not so much to confess individual confidence but to confess corporate belonging and participation in the Church of Jesus Christ, across time and space. The communion of saints throughout the world and throughout the ages who belong to Christ and participate in the life of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

To say “I believe” is an act of faith that we need to practice regularly among people of faith. It is a communal building up – to increase our faith while we increase the faith of others.

Living Ready 2 slide

Second, people who live ready live as “set-apart people.”

They live in the world, but not of this world. They act upon their faith in how they live every day, not just under this roof. They live generous, thoughtful, helpful lives, because of who they are. From the people who allow someone with three items and three small children to go ahead of them in the grocery line, to the couple who set aside their lives for months to assure Mike and I were packed and moved to Chicago, they are considerate in things small and great. They consider their lives a gift, every action a way to use that gift.

Right now, think of one person who has modeled for you that Christ-like generosity, thoughtfulness, and helpfulness. Someone who is living in this world, but living set apart. Now on the count of three, we are going to shout those names together, in a burst of gratitude. Ready? One, two, three! ……

Living Ready 3 slide

And, third, people who live ready want everyone with them.

When that unexpected day comes, I couldn’t help but be disappointed if the crowd was underwhelming. I picture an uncountable mass of all people from all times and places. People who live ready want a party, a banquet for everyone on that day. They can’t help but share the Good News of God’s love and God’s grace for all people.

Many of you have heard the story of the anthropologist studying an African community who set a basket of candy by a tree and offered the candy to the child who could get to it first. The children joined hands, ran together and shared the candy. One child explained it to the anthropologist: “Ubuntu. How can I be happy if all the others are sad?” Ubuntu: I am because we ALL are.

In what seemed to me a twist on that Ubuntu story, a good friend of mine wrote about Life as a headlong race toward Home: sometimes picking up others along the way, sometimes being carried yourself when you fall or falter. Knowing that we are going to make it, she said, by the grand-slam that is God’s grace. And learning how to absolutely, positively, no-matter-what trust in that. That has become my own vision of what our hope, God’s kindom, looks like. Not something I win, not a date that I need to calculate, not something for which I sit passively in the window and wait, but living ready, running toward Home, holding hands with others until we all reach Home.

That, Pilgrim, is our hope this Advent season. Living ready means not living in fear, but living every day filled with hope. Believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior, living grateful, thoughtful, and helpful lives, and bringing everyone home.

Final Slide

That is our hope this Advent season. As we wait for the arrival of Immanuel, and as we wait for the return of Christ. As we prepare for Christmas parties and negotiate stores filled with impatient shoppers. As we try to hold space in our own lives and hearts for some much-needed Christmas peace. Stay awake, my friends. Stay awake, be prepared and live ready!

Dreamers Among Us, Pilgrim, Genesis 40-41, October 16, 2022

This was my first sermon at my MIC site, Pilgrim Lutheran Church and School in Chicago. Ministry In Context is a field placement for seminary students, intended to give them a light version of an internship. I was fortunate to be placed with Pastor Kristian Johnson, a gifted preacher, an encouraging supervisor, and continued mentor. This was the fourth part of a seven-part sermon series on Joseph. 

Children’s sermon

All of us have dreams. Sometimes those dreams are fun and happy. Sometimes they are scary and sometimes they even wake us in the middle of the night – they feel so real. Can you remember one dream that has stuck with you?

Sometimes, the Bible says, God tries to get our attention through our dreams. Remember a couple of weeks ago, Joseph had a couple of dreams and when he told his family, they weren’t very happy.

I admit, I’m not good at remembering my dreams. Sometimes I remember them for a few minutes when I wake up, but then I start thinking about school or work or making breakfast, and the memory of that dream just disappears. If God was giving me a dream, do you think God would make sure I remembered it?.

Once in a while. people have weird dreams that they don’t understand. Maybe someone has a dream that their feet are stuck to the ground and they can’t move. Or maybe they have a dream that they were swimming in deep, deep water. And the next morning, they wake up and say, “Wonder what THAT was about?” And when they tell someone, that person says, “Oh, I know!” You dreamed you were swimming in deep water, because you’re going through something kind of scary, and deep water can be scary too.

So, not only did God give Joseph dreams, God gave him the ability to understand other people’s dreams. God also gave all the people here dreams and abilities too. Not just the adults, but you, too. Different dreams, different abilities, because God knew our church would need many different dreams and abilities.

Thanks for coming up. I have a couple things for you to keep reminding you that God needs your dreams. And, on the way back to your seat or to Sunday school, can you tell one of those adults: God needs your dreams? They may need a reminder – and you’re so good at encouraging them!

Sermon, with image descriptions

Image: When we last left our hero:

As I thought about preaching my first sermon at Pilgrim at the midway point of the Joseph story, I was reminded of those multi-part action-adventure series when I was a kid. The announcer would start the weekly episode with something like “Previously …” or “When we last left our hero…” Every show ended with a cliffhanger. The hero or star faced serious danger.

So, in the spirit of that memory:

(Shift to narrator role and voice) “Previously on ‘Journeys with Joseph,’” as a youth, Joseph, his father’s favorite son, was given an ornate, beautiful cloak. After Joseph revealed that he had two dreams that his family would bow down to him, his fed-up brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. For a short time, it appeared things might go well for Joseph, as he was sold to Potiphar, the head of Pharoah’s royal guard, and Potiphar came to trust him completely. However, last Sunday ended with Joseph in prison, unjustly accused of trying to go behind Potiphar’s back with Potiphar’s wife. Yet, even as a prisoner, Joseph gained favor with the warden as a man the warden could trust. And now, back to today’s story.”

Image: Joseph in his Coat of Many Colors

Joseph was no longer a teenager or 20-something as we reach today’s part of the story. Genesis gives us hints that he is older and more mature. The passage starts out with “Some time after this.” A couple of verses later, Joseph is put in charge of the Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and baker – the ruler’s personal attendants – who have gotten on the wrong side of Pharaoh, and “they continued for some time in custody.” Joseph is imprisoned with them long enough to know they are unusually disturbed following their own dreams. And after he interprets their dreams, two full years pass. We have to imagine Joseph as no longer an impetuous teenager, lording it over his brothers, but a thoughtful man, perhaps in his early 30s.

Image: Joseph in prison

This is the older and wiser version of Joseph. Older and wiser, perhaps, but certainly not all-knowing. In fact,

• Joseph likely had no idea God was working out a future for God’s people through him.
• Joseph had no idea that his dreams, and his ability to interpret others’ dreams, were a gift from God.
• And Joseph had no idea that God was using the gifts that God had given him, as a manager, as a keen observer of people, and as a visionary and interpreter of visions, time after time, in all of the places he landed.

How about us? Do we really understand the way God equips each of us with our unique capabilities as gifts? That your ability to provide hospitality, or your ability to sing or play music, or your ability to keep your home or business finances organized – those are gifts! And God specifically equipped you to fit into this world, into your own community, and into this congregation with those gifts.

It wasn’t so many years ago that the leaders of a congregation I belonged to were stressed. Chuck, a long-time member, was moving away. This person had filled lots of roles: treasurer, chair of the finance committee, audit committee member. Congregational leaders were really down about the hole he was leaving. However, it wasn’t too long after Chuck moved away that the congregation welcomed some new members, including a woman who was a retired accountant. It has happened too often in congregations I’ve been in to be coincidental – God provides the people and the gifts that are needed. It is up to us to find them and encourage them, and assure them their presence and work among us is the Body of Christ as it should be.

Now, that’s not to say that God always has us using our gifts in the same way. My bachelor’s degree is in journalism and mass communications. So, for the first 15 years of my career, I reported for community newspapers. But life changed and I went into human services work. In 2010, I joined a new congregation, and it wasn’t too long before my gifts led me to the communications ministry and into writing liturgy. And when God called me to seminary, those gifts didn’t go away.

Earlier this month, I looked at the calendar, and realized it was 36 years from my first day on the job with my first newspaper. And what was I doing at that moment? Sitting at my laptop, writing a feature story for the seminary’s Marketing and Communications Department. God is faithful, and the gifts that God gives us are meant to be put to good use.

That holds true no matter your age, your experiences, your skills, your length of time in the congregation. What a perfect message for today, when Pilgrim is holding its ministry fair. God called you here, and God finds ways for your gifts to shine: whether you are an accountant, a writer, or, even returning to our story, a dreamer or dream interpreter.

Image: Dream cloud

Dreams and visions – they keep showing up in Joseph’s story. Joseph had two dreams as a young person that he rather smugly shared with his 11 brothers and parents. Those dreams were pretty transparent: the sheaves in the field bowing down to his sheaf, the sun, moon and 11 stars bowing down to him.

Just as an aside, I come from a large family. I’m pretty certain that if one of my youngest brothers told our family a dream like that, there would have been repercussions.

But then Joseph’s story involves another pair of dreams: dreams by the Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker that Joseph was able to interpret in prison: that the cupbearer would be restored to the Pharaoh's good graces, while the baker would lose his life. And … spoiler alert … there are more dreams to come in Joseph’s story.

The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible says the ancients saw dreams as messages given in our sleep by deities, demons, or the dead. Many people of faith continue to believe dreams are one way God communicates with us. And “visions” serve the same role when we are awake.

Image: Scripture from Joel:

Every Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the Holy Spirit setting the Church on fire with the power of the Good News of the love of Jesus Christ, we use a passage of scripture from the prophet Joel:

“I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.”

When the prophet spoke about people dreaming dreams and having visions, he wasn’t just talking about people in ancient times, or at the end of time. If we are open to them, I think that God gives people dreams and visions all the time. And God gives us the power to welcome and interpret those dreams and visions.

Last week, Pastor Kristian asked two questions:

• What is God’s vision for you?

• What is God’s vision for Pilgrim?

Some people would see those questions as “one-person questions.” God’s vision for me – that’s my question. And what’s God’s vision for Pilgrim – let’s leave that one for Pastor, or maybe our Church Council President.

But just as our dreamer Joseph had the gift to interpret the cupbearer and baker’s dreams, we are both dreamers and dream interpreters. Pilgrim would not have existed had people not envisioned a place to worship in this part of Chicago and made that vision a reality. Pilgrim School wouldn’t have started had Pilgrim members not dreamed of a place where their young people could grow in wisdom AND faith, and then put bricks on that dream to open the school.

So I ask you again:

• What is God's dream for you?
• What is God’s vision for Pilgrim?
• What dreams are your passions and God’s gifts stirring in you?
• What visions does Christ have for this congregation, in this community, in 2022?

I believe those dreams and visions are here, among us, today. I believe that God has given us the people and the gifts we need. I believe that Christ is calling us to be the dreamers and the dream interpreters, the ones who will share Christ’s love in new ways for such a time as this.

Amen.

Honest Questions, Real Faith, SOJ Easter 2, April 24, 2022

I preached this sermon at Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church in Clarkdale, AZ, the Sunday after Easter, my final sermon in person at the church Mike and I helped charter in the 1990s.

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus, who is our Christ. Amen

St. Thomas shares the spotlight with the Risen Savior this weekend, not just in this church, but in most churches around the country.

In churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary, this is the traditional Sunday-after-Easter gospel every year. We hear about Thomas, who was not with the other disciples Easter night, who is present a week later. And for churches using the narrative lectionary, like Spirit of Joy, this passage is appointed for the Sunday after Easter this year, and every fourth year. So, countless sermons have been preached about this text over the years, and probably tens of thousands more will be preached this weekend.

Thomas always seems to get a bad rap in this passage. Those of us who grew up in the church have always heard a certain label applied to Thomas, because of the words Jesus speaks to him. Labels matter in how we read and respond to this story. Let’s take apart this familiar encounter and look at a few pieces in detail.

At the start of the gospel, the disciples are gathered in an upper room, locked in, for fear of “the Jews.” Or in other translations, “the Jewish leaders.” I don’t think anyone can fault them for locking themselves away, for being afraid. They’ve seen their teacher taken away, tried, scourged nearly to death, and then crucified. It makes sense that they expect to be next, and they are terrified.

Aside from that, they are grieving. They knew that Jesus died three days earlier, his lifeless body washed and wrapped and placed in a donated tomb. They heard the stories that the stone was rolled away and he was not there when the women went to the tomb at dawn. Whether his body was stolen or he is risen, they don’t know. They aren’t sure whether to go back to their former lives or proclaim the risen Savior, so they are stuck: fearful and questioning.

I’m sure many of us can empathize with the disciples. We’ve just lived with a global pandemic for two years, and 6 million deaths later, it’s still not over. My congregation in Prescott Valley is not meeting in person this week and next due to a Covid outbreak during Holy Week. Many of us have spent so much time behind our own locked doors, fearful and questioning. Is it safe to gather, to go back to work or school or church? Should we get another booster? Should we keep wearing masks? So many questions, honest questions. And the first truth of today’s story: It is the human response to ask questions.

Second, none of the gospels explain where Thomas was on Easter night. But he was not with the others. I think his absence points to the second truth: People are different and people come to faith differently, and that’s OK. For starters, not everyone handles grief the same way. A group of disciples locked themselves in an upper room on Resurrection Sunday to grieve, maybe to be safe, perhaps to share the wild hope that Jesus had risen from the dead. But not everyone was there. Perhaps Thomas just wanted to be alone to process his grief, ponder his questions. Maybe he didn’t want to lock himself away from the world. Or it’s possible that his was not the popular opinion – he couldn’t bear to start believing in a resurrected Jesus only to have his hopes dashed again. Remember, the disciple Peter wasn’t the only passionate one. Earlier, when Jesus said he was returning to Judea, as Lazarus had fallen ill, the disciples tried to talk him out of it, since some Jewish folks wanted to kill him. Thomas, however, knew what was at stake, but was all in with Jesus. “Let us also go, that we may die with him,” he told his fellow disciples.

During the six weeks of Lent, a group from Spirit of Joy gathered to study “The Difficult Words of Jesus.” In this study, we talked about six gospel texts that have vexed Jesus followers and theologians for two centuries. Not every word Jesus uttered was graceful and compassionate. We reflected on Jesus’ instructions to the rich young man to sell everything he owned, and to his disciples to go nowhere among the Gentiles. We heard passages that suggested Jesus wanted to divide families, and others that seem to suggest Jesus sanctioned slavery. We talked about heaven and hell, and scriptures that vilify Jewish people. Vanderbilt Divinity School theologian A.J. Levine provided some guiding thoughts, but at the end of the day, we didn’t walk out in complete accord. And that’s OK. We don’t have to live this Christian faith in lockstep. Our God is big enough for our questions and doubts.

The story is told of a self-proclaimed, self-assured atheist who would take great pleasure in publicly denying the existence of God. He would constantly tell anyone who would listen what was wrong with a God who would allow cruelty and injustice to continue. One day the great Hassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev, Ukraine, approached this man and said, “You know what, I don't believe in the same God that you don't believe in.”

Faith is not a once-and-done proposition. It’s not like learning to read or do multiplication. We don’t go to Sunday School and confirmation, or an Alpha class or Diakonia, or a new member class, and walk out the door understanding it all. Perhaps the father of the boy that Jesus healed in Mark 9 uttered the most honest words in scripture when he said, “I believe; help my unbelief.” The third truth for today: We can live in the paradox of faith and unknowing. The opposite of faith is not doubt. Doubt is part of faith. The opposite of faith is certainty.

And that brings us back to the disciples in today’s passage. Look closely at the story. On Resurrection Sunday, Jesus suddenly is with the remaining disciples, without Thomas. They were terrified, and now they think they are all having a communal apparition – this must be a ghost. What else appears despite a locked door? But Jesus tells them to be at peace, allows them to see his wounds and touch his flesh, and they rejoice. It IS Jesus!!

Then a week later, same time and place, Jesus appears again and tells them to be at peace. Jesus, sensing Thomas’s uncertainty, invites him to do just as his fellow disciples had done the previous week – see and touch his wounds and prove to his senses that he is their resurrected teacher. Jesus’s words are not a rebuke, but an invitation. “Do not doubt, but believe.”

And Thomas does not disappoint. As soon as he touches the wounds in Jesus’ hands and side, any uncertainty he may have had is gone. His words surpass simple knowing, or even the joyful recognition of the disciples a week earlier. His response is the ultimate faith statement of the Gospels in five words, as he exclaims: “My Lord and My God.”

And the fourth and final truth: Jesus addresses his last comment in the passage not to Thomas, not to the other disciples, but to his followers not in the room that night, the ones who would not be able to place their hands in his nail holes and his side. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Blessed are those who have not seen. Not Mary who meets the risen Jesus in the garden. Not the followers on the road to Emmaus, who meets the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread. Jesus is talking to those who would become Christ-followers from the disciples who couldn’t stop telling others about the resurrected Jesus. First, in Jerusalem, and then throughout the world. From Peter, who spread the good news to Pontus and Galatia and Cappadocia and beyond. From Philip, who met the Ethiopian eunuch and began the spread of the gospel to Africa. From John who preached through Asia, and from Thomas, whose witness of “My Lord and My God” traveled to Persia, beginning faith communities that now are the rock-solid Christian congregations throughout India.

Jesus is talking to Christians in Corinth and Ephesus and Thessalonica who would hear about Jesus from Paul, and to the followers around the globe who were inspired by the 3,000 people infused by the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem on Pentecost.

And Jesus is talking to you and me, and the people we tell, a continuing story of faith brought to life by “those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

It is a wild and almost unbelievable story, about God who stopped at nothing to keep loving God’s people, God who loved creation enough to be born as one of us, about a Savior so in love with humanity that he laid down his life. But if you open your heart to be touched by those wounds, and see the risen Christ, perhaps you, too, proclaim with Thomas, “My Lord and My God.” Or maybe you have your questions, but you showed up, and are here to worship our God who is big enough and loves you enough so you can live into your questions, now and always. Blessed and beloved are you, either way.

Amen