Really Thomas!

April 27, 2014                                                    

John 20:19-312

There’s a story of a boy asking questions of a Sunday School teacher who said it was wrong to ask questions and have doubts about God. So he asked yet another question: “Is God afraid of my questions and doubts?” He came to realize that God’s not afraid but his teacher sure was. 

Prayer

Many of us have been told in various ways that if we have doubts, or ask questions, or are skeptical of our faith or God that somehow we have sinned and have no faith… just like in the story I just shared. Somewhere along the way we’ve been discouraged or out-right told not to ask questions about God out of fear that we might be judged at not having faith.

Our gospel story today is a story is one of those places where we’ve gotten the idea that it is a bad thing to doubt. Doubting Thomas has been given a bad rap and perpetrated this notion that Doubt = No Faith. Just think about it for a moment… how could Thomas have doubted in Jesus? He was with Jesus for 3 years. He had a personal connection with Jesus as one of Jesus’ closest friends. Thomas… how could you? How could you not believe in Jesus!

You see John singles out Thomas… and I don’t know why. The other Gospels have the entire lot of Jesus disciples doubting and unbelieving. But for John…there seems to be a reason to single him out… for Thomas to doubt, and it makes it easy for us to say, “Really Thomas!” Of course… we should really be saying “Really” to all of Jesus’ friends… well… all but one… John! John was there till the end.

The truth of the matter is… most of us do doubt and most of us do have questions and many people have often felt belittled by some in the church by acknowledging those doubts, and asking questions. And… if I can be really honest… there are many times when I, as pastor, have questioned, doubted, and even encroaching non-belief at various times in my life. That’s right… me the pastor. Alright… I know… the pastor is suppose to have all the answers. After-all I went to seminary and studied all this stuff. Well… Yes I’ve studied… and yes I’ve still have questions… and doubts.

Even right now… I struggled all week with what God wants me to say to you about this story because I’m the pastor and you’re expecting me to have something to say that can shed light into your life. But, like Thomas it’s hard to believe without seeing. How can we know if Jesus is alive? Have you seen him? You have to admit… that Jesus being alive… it is really hard to believe! It seems like there are more questions than answers.

But as I looked at this story each day last week Two things came to mind in this story that seem important. At least as I looked at it.

1.     The Holy Spirit… Vs 21 Jesus says, “I am sending you just as the Father sent me.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

2.     Seeing… Vs. 29 Jesus says, “Do you have faith in me because you see me?”

There is something about this story when Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit. Jesus does quite often in John. In fact… in John 16:8 it takes up most of the chapter. The spirit will come and show you the truth… the Holy Spirit will help you and guide you… the Holy Spirit will help you see… Interesting connection… Holy Spirit and Seeing!

Martin Luther thought of the Holy Spirit as the one who enlightens understanding. For Luther… Faith in Christ through The Holy Spirit = Seeing the living Christ. Said another way… Faith seeking understanding.  

A good example of our collective doubt was at the spring congregational meeting… when the talk was about the call process… When that happened you could see the anxiety level rise. It seemed that your understanding was being skewed because of the past couple of times when you went through this. It seemed your anxiety came with how the synod would give you names of pastors. After-all according to your understanding the last two pastors were “Bad,” “Worse,” and “Worse Yet” and  you weren’t going to get screwed again. It seems some of you… maybe most of you doubted the process would be different. That’s when

Hal raised his hand and calmly stood up and said, “Do we trust God?”

Perhaps, this was a Holy Spirit moment. Though… I’m sure there is still some anxiety.

One thing to keep in mind… John is writing for a community of faith some 60 – 70 years after Jesus had died, and that, like Thomas, had never seen the resurrected Christ. Sure, they had the testimony of others like who is presumed to be the writer of this gospel, but they hadn’t seen him for themselves. And so perhaps here, right near the close of the Gospel, Jesus doesn’t so much rebuke Thomas as he does bless all those who read this story and come to faith through it. Nevertheless… it still leads to more questions and even more doubts about how we as community live out without seeing.

All of this leads me to question:

-       What is it that would prompt a similar confession of faith from us today?

o    How might we say, “My Lord and My God” as a response to experiencing Jesus?

-       Do we look for a loving and accepting community of believers who also question?

o    Can we live with one another when we question?

-       Can we live as a community despite the questions and doubt, maybe even unbelief?

-       Do we seek someone or something to hold on to us when we struggle in faith or life?

-       Or do we just need to hear John’s acknowledgment that faith is hard and receive Jesus’ invitation to faith and promise of blessing?

I don’t know… I don’t have the answers….

However… I hope we can live into the questions as faithfully as we can.

Easter Sunday... "The Day Grace Came"

April 20, 2014                                             

Matt. 28:1-10

STORY: “There’s a story of a little boy who was not happy about going to church on Easter Sunday. His shoes were too tight, his tie pinched his neck, and the weather was way too nice to be cooped up inside a church…. As he sulked in the back seat of the car, his parents heard him mutter; “I don’t know why we have to go to church on Easter anyway, they keep telling the same old story and it always comes out the same in the end.”

Prayer:

-       Mike is a recovering alcoholic and would often go into the worship space to pray and ask God to forgive him. He once told me that he wonders if God could ever forgive him.

-       Joann struggled at believing she was worth anything as a person… she was abused by her father as a child and as I listened to her she contemplates suicide. She wonders how God could love someone like her.

-       Chuck has a degenerative eye disease and has become blind. He struggles to find self-worth. He says, “How can I live and work when I can’t even see? One day he ran into another person and fell. The other person noticing he was blind yelled at him saying, “you’re a worthless ________ and you shouldn’t be out by your-self.

-       A woman is angry that her young husband dies and leaves her alone. She is angry with doctors for not doing more and accused them of making mistakes. She asks God why he let this happen. God why would you do this to me? Why do you hate me?

-       Paul is a convicted felon… he’s in prison serving 20 years for aggravated assault, criminal sexual assault, home invasion to name a few of the charges. He wants to change his life, but anger issues always seem to get him in trouble. He often ends up in segregated confinement. He has discovered God, but often struggles to please God, but keeps making the same mistakes. He often yells out to God… why can’t I stop doing these things? God why can’t you help me? God can’t forgive me!

-       Peter was standing by a fire pit and people were coming up to him asking if he belonged this guy named Jesus. Peter denied it over and over. Peter believed he didn’t deserve forgiveness because what he did was unforgivable.

In all these stories we hear of struggle and doubt. Peter, Thomas… in fact all of Jesus’ friends struggled with the resurrection… struggled with forgiveness. We struggle with how God dispenses his forgiveness and grace. All of us have had regrettable experiences… all of us are broken and yet in our life stories, there are stories of hope… you see… it’s really not about us or them… But about Jesus’ love for us.

In all of these stories these people experienced God’s love and forgiveness and with God’s help are walking a path of redemption and resurrection. It doesn’t mean everything has been made better… Joann & Mike still struggle… Paul still is in prison. Yet… God is present with them and with us.

You see… It’s what Jesus did on Friday that TAKES the unforgiveable and MAKES it forgivable. On Friday forgiveness came and today Easter Sunday we celebrate that Grace and Love are possible…. Forgiveness is possible.

Today is Easter and “You Are Loved”

I saw the movie “Heaven is Real” the other day. I won’t give too much away in the event you haven’t seen it. The movie is about a 4 year old boy who gets an opportunity to experience heaven. As the movie goes the boy is in surgery for a burst appendix and is not doing well. He doesn’t die… so it’s not a near death experience, but he gets to see heaven and Jesus and some others. He tells his dad… a pastor… about this experience. And the dad struggles to understand as do others who learn about the little boy’s experience. In the end… what I got from the story was… Heaven is real… God is real… but, more to the point, the story is about love & grace through the struggles of the characters.  

In our Easter story today the same is true for the struggles of Jesus’ friends. Again it’s a story of Love & Grace. In the resurrection of Jesus… God has come and love is made possible. Today is Easter and love is present. It’s found here in the bread & wine… in the warm embrace of a friend… in the comforting words of encouragement. It’s Easter and you are loved in an inconceivable, irrevocable, and uncanny way by a God who created you so that you might love. It’s Easter and we are infected with the possibility of love… we are capable of love… we have the capacity to love… and a pervasive desire to love and be loved. It might not be at the forefront of our psyche… It may not appear to be a driving force in our lives… But I’m here to tell you… IT IS THERE!!! Love and Forgiveness and Grace is there! And it’s available!! It’s Easter and you are forgiven and made to love… and my friends… whether or not you believe it… You are good at it! 

This is the message today… Easter Sunday… It’s Easter and you are loved and you are forgiven because Today is the Day that GRACE Came.

Series: Making Change... Change of Focus

Palm Sunday

April 13, 2014                                                         Matt. 26:17-30

This Lenten season we’ve been reflecting on “Making Change”… not just the physical or outward change of doing things differently… but about Making Change here…. In our hearts. By making heart change… we assure ourselves that the other kinds of change will fall into place.

There’s a story of a company attempting to start a new pension plan, which required 100% participation. Every employee signed up except one. No amount of argument or persuasion could get this person to change his mind. Finally, the president of the company called the man into his office. He told the man, “Here is a copy of the proposed pension plan and here is a pen. Sign up or you're fired.” The man immediately picked up the pen and signed his name. The president of the company then said, “I don't understand why you refused to sign until now. What was your problem?” The man replied, “You're the first person who explained it to me clearly.” 

Is this how you make change?

So… how have you been doing at making heart change?

If your struggling to make change in your life… perhaps you need a…“Change of Focus”

Prayer:

Today is Palm Sunday in the season of Lent…. It means a couple of things…

              1. That the conclusion of Lent is near. It also means that we get to celebrate the joyous

                   & triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. For many… Palm Sunday is about

                   Joy & Excitement & Anticipation.

              2. And it’s the last week of Jesus’ life. Even though… his friends still haven’t figured it

                  out. For Jesus’ friends… they’re thinking Jesus is finally going to do something                             about the Roman occupation. That Jesus is somehow going to bring justice for the 

                  Jews. Well… we know that’s not exactly what happens. And…while some celebrate

                  Jesus as the coming King of the Jews… others not so much.

It seems things are changing… and for Jesus it’s a change in focus. For Jesus… his focus now becomes more intentional towards God, his father. While some will paint Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as a justice/political move… I believe the message Jesus brings is one of focus on faith & belief in God…. Not political nor justice. Not that Jesus didn’t speak about such things… but now, Jesus is demonstrating the big picture of God’s vision, and I believe it is one of Faith & Belief.

By the time we get to Palm Sunday and the 4 days that follow we see Jesus’ focus doing just that… demonstrating the big picture. Jesus cleanses the Temple… Curses the fig tree… the fig tree is symbolic of the nation. Challenges the Pharisee’s… talks about heaven & life in the future. Talks about the most important commandment. Chastises the Pharisee’s… these are the religious leaders… pastors. Weeps for Jerusalem and her people. Talks of the Temple crumbling to the ground. And final judgment.

From today, Palm Sunday, it’s 5 action packed chapters of 4 days in the life of Jesus… 4 days of Jesus trying to change the focus towards God. For me… the significance of Palm Sunday comes on day 5 when Jesus gathers his friends for a final meal of which finally to some extent does change the focus of his friends. And… this gathering can change our focus in 3 ways when we see Jesus as…

The Real Presence of God.

The gospels, especially Luke, feature Jesus taking part in a lot of meals. Whether Jesus is visiting Mary & Martha, Zachaeus, Peters mother-in-law, feeding the 5000… Jesus eats pretty well. It seems when Jesus is present with people… so is a lot of food. So… it seems fitting that Jesus would gather his friends for a final meal. And not only as a practical matter, but also as a sign or sacramental matter too.

When Jesus invites whether it’s the 5000, Mary & Martha, his friends, or others he takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and give it to his friends as an act of hospitality… and if you think about it… it’s the in-breaking of God into our lives. Jesus… after his resurrection walks the Emmaus Rd with 2 believers and they don’t recognize him… it’s only after they share bread that their eyes are opened… (Luke 24:28-34) So… for us as people of faith… sacramentally… the bread from which we share is Jesus as the real presence of God.

The second way we can have a change of focus is when we see Jesus as…

Sign and Sacrifice

When Jesus takes the cup of wine he’s changing the focus of the Jewish blood covenant of animal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. In the cup of wine, Jesus uses the wine as a sign of His blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Just as the bread is a sign of God’s hospitality… the wine is the sign of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf for our sin. So… when Jesus says, “Take and Eat” and “Take and Drink” he does two things…

1.     It’s a new agreement or covenant with God. No longer do people have to have a yearly animal blood sacrifice. Jesus does this once for all.

2.     Jesus is now the sacrifice that forgives sins for all people. There’s no need to make offerings & overtures for sins to be forgiven.

Which leads to the 3^rd way we can have a change of focus… Jesus as…

Grace & Forgiveness

In this last meal… Judas is present. We’re pretty harsh with Judas as we see him as the villain in the story. Perhaps… rightfully so… but he’s present with Jesus. If we believe the bread & wine that Jesus offers all his friends is an invitation to grace & forgiveness… Well… Judas was there for that. However you understand what Judas did or have placed judgment upon him it’s really not for us to judge. We might be surprised in heaven on who’s there and who’s not.

Theologian Greg Carey states… “Preachers can help congregations grapple with the relationship between grace and judgment. Matthew never explains what Jesus means when he pronounces woe upon his betrayer: is Judas doomed because of God’s judgment or simply because of the path he has chosen? Nevertheless, popular imagination cannot hold grace and judgment together. Jesus Christ does: judgment often bears grace; grace always tempers judgment. Though judged, Judas eats with the other disciples nonetheless.”

Jesus feeds his betrayer… remember the Pharisee’s question… “Why do you eat with tax collectors & sinners?” I believe it’s because the story of Jesus is God’s story of Grace & Forgiveness. And… I believe it’s the Change of Focus Jesus desires us to make in this Lenten season. It’s the change of focus the church needs to make as well.

Closing:

Today we celebrate Jesus joyous entry into our lives and we celebrate in the means of grace of a holy meal of bread and wine. It’s the means by which we sinners… all of us… have the opportunity to receive grace & forgiveness when we share in Holy Communion. If we are looking to change the focus of our lives… today is a great day to do so. It will help us make the heart change we desire and help us make change in our lives.

 

Making Change... Change of Heart

March 30, 2014                                                   

John 9:1-17

We’ve been talking about “Making Change” in our lives and in our community. This series is not so much about the physical or outward change we’re doing as much as it is about “Heart Change”. And… with heart change… the outward change becomes apparent and sustainable. Thus far… we’ve reflected on “Change of Season”… “Change of Habit”… last week… “Change of Circumstances”… and today…  “Change of Heart”

Prayer…

In our story today… and it’s a much larger story than we’ve read is about Jesus giving sight to a blind man... Of which he… the blind man… his parents, Jesus’ friends, and probably others think, the blind man or his parents have sinned. The context of this story is that Jesus is on the run. In the previous chapter Jesus is talking with some Jews and most likely Pharisee’s about Abraham and then makes the statement in Vs 58 that gets him almost killed.

Jesus says, “I tell you for certain that even before Abraham was, I was, and I AM.” then the people try to stone him and he ran off.”

So… here we find Jesus on the run and likely not in the mood to heal anyone as he is trying to get away. Yet… as they see this blind beggar along the road, his friends ask the question… “Teacher… why was this man born blind? Was it because he or his parents sinned?” As I mentioned… Jesus is on the run and not particularly interested in helping this guy… Yet… feels compelled to say and do something as I think he looks over his shoulder to see whose around… then says, “no neither sinned.”

I know it sounds strange to say Jesus isn’t interested in helping someone. But Jesus didn’t help everyone he encountered. Jesus didn’t physically heal everyone he saw. But in this story… Jesus has a change of heart and gives sight to this blind man. And… with this change of heart, Jesus changed every part of this man’s life.

If we look at this story closely… we would see it has nothing to do with whether or not this man or his parents sinned. But… that this is a story of a perceived problem this man has. Vs 8… this man’s neighbors know him and his problem all too well. You see…this blind man from birth is nothing more than a mooch… a beggar… a vagrant… thus he’s stigmatized because he’s unclean. According to Jewish society… he’s less than a person and rather easy to dismiss. I wonder how many times do you think about people like this and dismiss the beggars standing on some busy intersection holding a sign wanting money?

You see… it’s easy for us to look at others with their problems and say… she’s an alcoholic… he’s a drug addict… the kid with his pants half off as a drop out… she’s depressed… etc. All of these scenarios are for the other… But we often do this to ourselves as well. We often see ourselves as dropouts… disappointments… failures. We often see ourselves as problems, which limit us… and when invited to seek change, we often sabotage ourselves out of fear. This happens to us as the church as well. However… most of us have learned to cope with our limitations.

I remember years ago when life wasn’t so pleasant… I saw myself as a big loser with a BIG L on my forehead. Nothing was working… my life seemed doomed, then an invitation to look more closely to Jesus came. I chose to walk that path… more to the point… the Holy Spirit pushed me… to make a deeper commitment to following Jesus.

Then a strange thing happened… the people I hung out with saw it differently. I had had a change of heart. I no longer found the need to do the deviant things I was doing and no need to associate with the people I was associating with. I found acknowledging Jesus not only changed my heart and my life… but that acknowledging Jesus was simply too much for the people I was hanging out with.

The blind man in our story has a similar response, but from the Pharisee’s. Jesus illustrates this in a response from Mark’s gospel when he says, “The people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

When Jesus invites a change of heart in our lives… life will change. We might need a big push…but life will change when our heart changes.

Now a WARNING… just because we have a change of heart, and Jesus comes into our lives… doesn’t mean life is going to be all hunky-dorie and great. There will still be struggle and challenges. I continue to be challenged in my faith walk. Wednesday evening Hannah shared that she struggles with faith and guess what… Hannah is only 16… Well Hannah… I’m 58 and I’m struggling at times too. Mr. Terry is 69 and he struggles… and Mr. Leo is 96… Mr. Leo do you struggle? YES!!!

And sometimes… I wonder if my change of heart is even worth it, even with the promises Jesus makes about having new life. You see… change is always a risk. However, I can tell you… and I suppose some of you out there can as well…even though there are challenges and doubts of faith at times… I can tell you… it’s worth it to continue the journey… because you do get life assuring glimpses of the new and abundant life Jesus offers.

For the man born blind that Jesus helps Vs 35-38 of the larger story are key despite the disruption of his life. These verses point to where change of heart really happens for the man and for us.

When Jesus heard what had happened, he went and found the man. Then Jesus asked, “Do you have faith in the Son of Man?” He replied, “Sir, if you will tell me who he is, I will put my faith in him.”  “You have already seen him,” Jesus answered, “and right now he is talking with you.” The man said, “Lord, I put my faith in you!” Then he worshiped Jesus. (John 9: 35-38 CEV)

For me my friends… this is the grace and love of God.

For me… this is where the blind man has the ultimate change of heart.

For me…. This is where God is revealed in Jesus and we too are able to “SEE” and make change in our lives. And indeed… have a Change of Heart.