Model for Discipleship
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For April 24, 2022:
Model For Discipleship
by Tom Willadsen
John 20:19-31; Psalm 150; Acts 5:27-32
Tower of Strength.
Ignorant.
Doubter.
One could make a case for Thomas being each of these, but history has attached “Doubting” to his identity. Let’s reconsider this disciple in the season of Easter. He stands out from the others in ways that have been overlooked. Perhaps he should be our model for discipleship.
In the Scriptures
Psalm 150 reminds us that Easter is a season — not something we left behind last week after the bunny scampered back under the hedge, leaving strands of plastic grass in his wake. Praise God exuberantly, using a wide variety of instruments. Everything, everything should praise God!
Peter has undergone a profound transformation. The one who famously denied even knowing Jesus three times, is boldly preaching Christ crucified. In today’s lesson from Acts he has miraculously escaped prison and was found preaching Christ in the temple. The police were there. The high priests told Peter and the other disciples to stop preaching. Pete has totally gotten “a spinal implant” since the resurrection. While the text does not mention Thomas, he was probably among “the other disciples.” Perhaps some of Thomas’ bravery has rubbed off on Peter.
That’s right; Thomas was brave. In the synoptic gospels Thomas is only a name on the list of disciples. In John’s gospel he stands out from the others.
Pop quiz: Which disciples do we know anything about, besides their names?
Judas, the betrayer, also used to skim money out of the common purse.
Peter gets the most ink among the disciples. He was the first to identify Jesus as the Messiah; he was the one who wanted to build shelters for Jesus, Elijah and Moses; he denied even knowing Jesus three times; Jesus asked Peter three times at the breakfast he catered on the lakeside whether Peter loved him.
James and John were brothers, whom Jesus nicknamed “Sons of Thunder.” They were part of the disciples’ executive committee along with Peter, but they never do or say anything to set themselves apart from the others.
Do we know anything about Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; James, son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus; or Simon the Cananaean? They’re just names on the list.
There are three places, all in John’s gospel, where Thomas sets himself apart from the other disciples. In John 10 Jesus had a conversation at the temple with “the Jews” who asked him whether he was the Messiah. His answer enraged them. “The Jews took up stones again to stone him.” (John 10:31, NRSV) The situation escalated. They tried to arrest him and “he escaped from their hands.” (10:39, NRSV) Jesus and the disciples left Judea.
The next thing that happens is Jesus gets a message that Lazarus is very ill. Two days later, Jesus says to his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” (10:7-8, NRSV)
After a little more conversation, during which Jesus makes it plain to the disciples that Lazarus is dead, Thomas said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (10:16, NRSV)
The grammar is ambiguous; “him” could refer to Lazarus or Jesus. The context makes it clear that Thomas understood the danger Jesus faced in returning to Judea, and was willing to journey with him.
In John 14 Thomas interrupts Jesus’ reassuring words that he would return, by saying, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (14:5, NRSV) A quick reading of the verses that precede Thomas’ question makes it obvious why Thomas didn’t understand. It was late at night, Jesus had already washed their feet and now he was off on this crazy monolog. Thomas was not obtuse or too weary to understand. Thomas was alert enough to raise the question that any of the disciples would have asked if they had really wanted to understand. Thomas wanted to understand. He was not the student who asked, “Is this gonna be on the midterm?” He was the one who would not let the teacher glide over the difficult parts. Good teachers love students like Thomas. Jesus’ response, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Concise and memorable. And elegant. Thomas said he didn’t know where Jesus was going, and Jesus replied, in part, “I am the way.”
Sunday evening, the tomb’s empty and the disciples were meeting behind locked doors “for fear of the Jews.” (John 20:19, NRSV) Jesus appeared in the room with the disciples, breathed on them and commissioned them. Except Thomas, Thomas wasn’t there.
All the other disciples were hiding behind locked doors because they were afraid. Thomas was not with them. Clearly Thomas was not afraid. We can only imagine where Thomas was.
Thomas refused to believe that Jesus had appeared to the other disciples who were hiding in fear, unless he saw and touched Jesus’ wounds.
“Imma do my own research, snowflake!” Yes, imagine Thomas saying that to Philip.
Thomas insisted on literally getting his hands dirty and seeing with his own eyes. Thomas, along with the other disciples, had a front row seat at all of Jesus’ miracles and teaching. He still needed to see for himself that his teacher had been wounded, and bore the wounds following his rising from death.
Thomas’ insistence on understanding led Jesus to say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Thomas’ insistence on seeing with his own eyes, led Jesus to say, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.” That would be all of us.
In the News
Covid-19 appears to be passing out of the headlines. On April 15, the county I live in reported zero cases! Variants continue to emerge and the Department of Transportation has extended its mask mandate, but, for now, the pandemic appears to be at low ebb.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. It appears that Russia is moving troops to focus on the eastern part of the nation. At this point it is not clear whether the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, was sunk by a Ukrainian missile or an accidental fire.
The work of the House Select Committee on January 6 continues. It appears, as those closest to defeated President Donald Trump testify, that a strong case can be made for charges of insurrection against officials in the highest tiers of the Trump administration.
This month’s mass shooting took place on a subway train in Brooklyn, Tuesday, April 12. The assailant threw two smoke grenades then fired 33 shots. No one was killed, but numerous people were injured by gun shots and smoke inhalation while escaping the car. The next day a suspect was arrested.
The news story that has evoked the most outrage was the shooting of an unarmed black man by a police officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The victim, Patrick Lyoya, is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. This incident follows a pattern that is entirely too familiar — a traffic stop of a Black driver by a white police officer that escalated to the use of “deadly force.” Mr. Lyoya was murdered by a public employee sworn to “serve and protect.” The Michigan State Police is investigating and its report is expected to be released by April 16.
The as yet unnamed officer disabled his body camera prior to executing Mr. Lyoya, but video from a bystander and the passenger in Mr. Lyoya’s car captured this appalling event.
White Americans can be outraged at this abuse of civil authority, but we cannot be surprised. Two years ago the nation watched in horror as a St. Paul, Minnesota policeman knelt on George Floyd until he suffocated. It was bystander video of the icy indifference of Derek Chauvin and the cowardly refusal of other officers to intervene that brought Floyd’s murder into our living rooms.
Police violence against marginalized citizens has always been with us. For generations Black Americans have told stories of horrific, dehumanizing treatment at the hands of police officers. Richard Prior performed a comedy bit called “N----- v. the Police” in 1974. The “joke:” “How many cops does it take to kill a Black man? A. None. He fell down the stairs.”
In the Sermon
Thomas is a model for Christian faith. He insisted on understanding what Jesus was saying and seeing his wounds with his own eyes. Thomas’ faith was his own; he was not a Christian by proxy. Thomas believed when he saw with his own eyes. He confessed, “My Lord and my God!” At this point, Jesus’ response is of paramount significance. Jesus replied, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:29, NRSV) That would be all of us. While we affirm “Christ is alive,” we do not have the first hand (literally) experience Thomas had. It is more difficult, or perhaps one could say it takes a greater leap of faith, for Christians who have come nearly 2,000 years after Thomas. Thomas believed his eyes, and he was changed.
If you’ve seen the video of Patrick Lyoya’s murder, do you believe your eyes? Can you accept the reality of systemic police violence against marginalized people in the United States? What actions are you willing to take to oppose this injustice?
SECOND THOUGHTS
We Preach Christ
by Dean Feldmeyer
Acts 5:27-32
Yes, I know. It’s the Sunday after Easter and, as it is every year, it’s Doubting Thomas Week. And my colleague, Tom Willadsen, has written a very compelling article on that text.
But wait, there’s more!
Let’s pivot the camera 180 degrees and focus, for a moment, on the other 10 people in that dark, tight, little room where they are hiding in fear. No doubt, their facial expressions are betraying a certain pensive anxiety as they ask themselves, “Now what?”
And, for many of us, that’s the question on our minds the week after Easter. “Now what?” The Easter sermon that we spent weeks preparing has been preached. The lilies that decorated the sanctuary have been taken home or are starting to wilt. The big Easter crowd has departed until their semi-annual return at Christmas. Life has gone back to normal and many of us preachers are left asking the same question as the apostles: “Now what?”
Luke’s account of Peter before the Sanhedrin answers that question: Now what? Now we preach Christ. Yes, but what about the Sanhedrin? What do we do about them? Same answer: We preach Christ. Yes, but what about the scoffers and the doubters and the cynics and the hypocrites, some of which are in our own churches? What about them? Same answer: We preach Christ.
Come what may, good or bad, light or dark, easy or hard, dangerous or safe, we preach Christ.
In the Scriptures
Today’s reading from Acts goes pretty much like this: Peter and the apostles are standing before the Sanhedrin, the high court of the Jerusalem Temple.
Sanhedrin: Peter, your preaching is stirring up the people against us and we gave you and your friends explicit orders not to preach about this guy, Jesus Christ, did we not?
Peter: Yes, you did.
Sanhedrin: And, yet, you keep preaching about him, anyhow.
Peter: Yes, we do. If the people are getting stirred up, that’s on you. You’re the ones who crucified him. And God raised him up. So, if you want to blame someone, blame yourselves or God, but not us.
Sanhedrin: You realize that you give us no choice but to have you whipped.
Peter: Okay.
Sanhedrin: Do you still intend to preach about Jesus?
Peter: Yes, we do.
Sanhedrin: (angry and indignant) Okay, then we’ll put you in jail!
Peter: Okay.
Sanhedrin: And you’re still going to preach about him, aren’t you?
Peter: Yep.
Sanhedrin: You’re impossible, you know that?
Peter: Yep.
This evangelism stuff can be dangerous. Look what happened to Peter and his bunch. They talked about Jesus and got arrested for their trouble — threatened, jailed and flogged.
My life is complicated enough. I don’t need that kinda stuff in it as well. Please, God, isn’t there a better, less dangerous way to spread the Good News? Something that doesn’t require talking about Jesus?
You’ve probably heard or even quoted St. Francis of Assisi’s famous axiom: “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”
It’s pretty clever and it encourages Christians to live out the gospel in the actions of their daily lives, which is good. There are just two problems.
One, St. Francis never said it. At least there’s no record of him saying it. None of his early biographers or followers quoted him saying it. He never wrote it down. And, he never really followed it himself.
That’s the other problem with the quote. It creates a false and useless dichotomy between speaking and doing when, in fact, we are called to do both. Francis, himself, was an eloquent and effective preacher as well as an active and compassionate minister of the word. And so was Jesus.
So, yes, actions are important. But so are words. I received a valuable lesson to that effect several years ago.
In the World
I was in Nicaragua with a group from my church and we were working at a mission that brought people who were living in the Managua city dump out into the countryside. There, we helped them build houses for their families and learn to do subsistence farming and crafting to support themselves. There was a church and a school and a soccer field and baseball diamond and we had a great time working and playing there at the mission.
On Sunday we worshiped with the residents at their church and then we discovered that the mission had a mission of their own. On Sunday afternoons they went to the men’s prison a few miles away where they led by a Pentecostal worship service and handed out gift bags to the inmates who showed up to worship.
Each bag contained soap and a washcloth and a towel along with a toothbrush and toothpaste and some other little things that made life in the prison more bearable. We were given the bags to hand out and instructed to say, each time we gave someone a bag, “En e nombre de Jesucristo.” In the name of Jesus Christ.
On the way back to the mission one of the young adults in our group asked our guide and interpreter why we were instructed to say that phrase. She explained, “That is so the men understand that we are not doing this because we are privileged, white, morally superior, North Americans. We are doing it because we love Jesus and Jesus has told us to do it.”
Actions are a great way to witness. And sometimes we can bring words to those actions that help others interpret them.
But, when you get right down to it, sometimes actions are just easier than words, right? Sometimes doing is easier than talking.
It’s easy enough to drop a couple of bucks into the bucket in front of a homeless person panhandling on the sidewalk and keep on walking. It’s a lot harder to actually stop and talk to that person.
It’s easy to write a check to the local soup kitchen, or food pantry, or medical clinic. It’s not even all that difficult to volunteer there once a month. But it can be tough to sit down and engage the folks who come there in a conversation.
Throw in a reference or two about Jesus and it gets downright scary.
We don’t want them, or anyone, for that matter, to think we’re some kind of a religious nut, after all.
I can’t help myself. Every time I hear the word evangelist or evangelism, my mind just automatically goes straight to those rich TV charlatans or the guy on the street corner near the Ohio State University campus, one hand clutching a Bible and the other hand pounding the air as he screams at passersby that they’re going to hell. And I don’t want anyone to confuse me with either of those guys.
Look what happened to Peter and the Apostles, for heaven’s sake. They talked about Jesus and it got them thrown in jail and whipped. I don’t need that in my life. So, I’ll just leave the evangelism to the preachers, thank you. I’ll keep doing and let them do the speaking. Right?
Well, no. Jesus is still calling us, preachers and lay people, to do both. So, maybe there’s a better, more appropriate, less threatening way to add speaking to our doing of the gospel, a way that is effective and authentic that won’t get us arrested, laughed at, or make us feared or hated.
In the Sermon
When I was a kid, I thought that there were only two mission fields in the world: China and Africa. Everywhere else, I guess, was pretty much already saved. And all the stories I heard about China and Africa seemed to point to the fact that they were very far away, very different from where I lived, and very dangerous.
So, I just sort of wrote evangelism out of my life. Sorry, Lord. Not for me. I’m sure you’ll find someone else to do it.
And then I heard a speaker at my church who suggested that there were four other mission fields and they were very near to where I lived. Those mission fields were: family, neighbors, friends, and co-workers. Those were the people who were close to me, familiar, and not all that threatening. Many of them, he reminded us, either have not heard the saving, healing, affirming good news of Jesus or they’ve heard it and forgotten it, or they’ve been present when it was spoken but all of the other noise in their lives has drowned it out. These people — our friends, our family, our neighbors, and our co-workers — could benefit not just from our acts of loving kindness but from hearing us speak the Good News as well.
He didn’t suggest that, tomorrow, we just go up to those folks and, without context or preamble, starting talking about Jesus. No, he was much more subtle and clever than that.
First, he reminded us that we don’t have to have a seminary degree or learn a fancy speech or sermon. We don’t have to have a hundred answers to a hundred questions. We don’t have to be Billy Graham or Ernest Fremont Tittle to talk effectively, passionately, compassionately, and authentically about Jesus.
All we had to have was our story. How Jesus entered my life, through my church, through a family member, through a friend, a health care provider, a buddy, or through a group, a choir, a Bible study, a Sunday school class, a softball team, whatever. All we need is the story of how Jesus came into my life and the impact that has had on me.
Then, the other thing we had to have was an appropriate moment. He spent some time talking about inappropriate or insensitive times and ways that people choose to talk about their faith, what they believe and what everyone else should believe. Then he offered some examples of appropriate times and ways to share Jesus with those who need him.
He had a good friend whose adult son took his own life, he said, and his friend’s heart was broken. He wept until he had no more tears to weep. He couldn’t think, eat, or sleep. Then one day, about a week after the funeral there was a knock at the door. He answered and there was a woman about his age. She introduced herself as a neighbor who lived just a few houses down the street from his and, while they had not met, she had heard about his tragedy in their small town newspaper. Then she said: “I have been where you are. Eleven years ago, this summer, my daughter took her own life. I really do know how you feel and, if you’ll let me, I’d like to come in help you bear some of that grief.”
He let her in and they began a friendship that has lasted for more than a decade. She shared with him how her faith in God and Jesus Christ, and the love and support of her church helped her survive that terrible pain. Eventually she invited him to her church. He told her that he already had a church home but he just hadn’t been able to return to it since his son’s death. So, she encouraged him to do so. Let them love you and support you, she told him. Let them be the hands of Jesus for you. He did, and when he did, he realized, that she had already been the hands and feet of Jesus.
In another, less dramatic example, the speaker talked about his wife. She was working in an office where there were a lot of single, young women who regularly complained about not being able to find “a good man.” Often these lamentations came wrapped in humor but she sensed in some of them a real pain beneath all that laughter.
So, one day, as they were in the midst of their favorite topic, she said, “You know, I met my husband in church. We’ve been married 40 years and I truly believe that God had a hand in bringing us together.” At first, the girls laughed and teased her that “you think church is the answer to everything.” But, after a few days, during a break, one of the young women drew her aside and asked her about her church and her marriage.
He concluded that the young woman and her fiancé are now both members of the church where they are learning about Jesus and making friends in the young families Sunday school class.
Finally, he shared about a friend of his who is a 26-year member of AA. This friend says that he has an almost flawless ability to spot an alcoholic and, when he does, he befriends that person. He doesn’t talk about AA. He waits, because he knows from his own experience and the stories that he’s heard at the meetings, that a time will come when that person’s drinking leads them into a hole out of which they cannot climb by themselves.
And when it does, he’ll be there “to jump into the hole and show them how to get out, which I can do because I’ve been down there and I know where the hand holds are.” He shares his story and he invites them to AA and he offers to give them a ride. And sometimes, their “higher power” reaches down through the 12 steps and gives them their life back.
A neighbor suffers an unbearable loss.
A co-worker is lonely and doesn’t know which way to turn.
A friend gets lost in substance dependency.
A family member has a difficult decision to make and needs help making it.
What do we do? First, we befriend them, then we help them. Then we share our story with them.
That’s evangelism.
That’s how WE PREACH CHRIST.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Psalm 150
Praising God for all creation
Psalm 150 can be said to be a symphony of praise to God. The psalmist describes sounds of trumpet, lute, harp, strings, and tambourine fill the sanctuary with resounding harmonies of praise. It’s a fitting psalm for the Second Sunday of Easter, as well as the Sunday closest to Earth Day 2022. Earth Day offers a concrete way of focusing our praise of God by reminding worshipers that our praise should lead us into faithful response. Listening to creation’s symphony of praise evokes within us responses aimed at becoming better stewards of creation.
“The last five years have shown that the climate crisis is no longer a future worry — it is affecting our communities right now,” Creation Justice Ministries website notes. “Record-breaking storms, extreme weather, and the slow violence of sea level rise are tearing at the physical and social fabric of our society. So-called “natural” disasters in the United States have increased in frequency and intensity in the last two decades.”
* * *
Psalm 150
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord
Poet, writer, farmer and activist Wendell Berry provides another opportunity for listening to creation. “Creation is thus God's presence in creatures,” he writes in Christianity and the Survival of Creation. “The Greek Orthodox theologian Philip Sherrard has written that ‘Creation is nothing less than the manifestation of God's hidden Being.’ This means that we and all other creatures live by a sanctity that is inexpressibly intimate, for to every creature, the gift of life is a portion of the breath and spirit of God. (pg. 308, Christianity and the Survival of Creation).
* * *
John 20:19-31
Lockdowns 2022
The disciples are locked down and isolated from the rest of the world, John reminds us. It’s an experience we remember all too well, and an experience most Americans hope to never experience again. But news reports from Shanghai, China’s financial center, are reminders that the pandemic is far from over. Residents in Shanghai are contending with a weeks-long shut down order, and are facing long stretches without access to food, medicine, or other necessary supplies. Frustrations are running high, and protests are mounting.
It is not an exaggeration to say that a new lockdown in the United States would face obstacles. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, has said he believes another round of US lockdowns would be “very, very difficult.”
* * *
John 20:19-31
Faith as trust
It’s unnecessary to castigate Thomas as a doubter. In fact, some translators suggest Jesus’ words to Thomas are aimed more at cultivating trust than denouncing doubt. (See Rene Such Schreiner’s commentary.)
Our generation is finding it harder and harder to trust, however. The 2022 Edelman Trust index shows that nearly six in ten people now say distrust is their “default tendency,” and that more than half of all individuals believe distrust has become so widespread that it is just about impossible to have “constructive and civil” debates with others who disagree with them. Other findings of the the trust barometer indicate that most people believe government and the media are at fault for fostering distrust. (You can see a top-level summary of the survey here, or visit the Edelman website for the entire report.)
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:
John 20:19-31
Doubt
Doubting God and doubting ourselves travel together. Writer Anne Lamott recalls that she became a Christian before she got sober, telling, “I had converted to Christianity while drunk, at a tiny church, and about a year later, several months sober, I was baptized. My pastor was a tall, brilliant, progressive preacher named James Noel, who looked a lot like Marvin Gaye, which was only part of the reason I kept coming back. I called him the morning of my baptism to tell him that, regrettably, I’d have to cancel the baptism, as I was currently too damaged and foul for words. I promised to call him when I got a bit better. He said to get my butt over to church, that I wasn’t going to heal sitting alone on my ten-by-twelve-foot houseboat. He said I didn’t have to get it together before I could be included and, in fact, couldn’t get it together without experiencing inclusion.”
Being part of God’s story was waiting for her, no matter her flaws, in the same way it was for Thomas, and in the same way it is for us. (from Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy)
* * *
John 20:19-31
Seeing Jesus
The disciples receive the gift of seeing Jesus, and then Thomas, later gets the same gift. Dr. Diane Komp, who works with children who have cancer, says that the essential need of dying people is to know they’re not alone.
She recalls a young boy who also had a powerful experience of seeing Jesus. “When children talk about dying, about heaven, about their own death, whether they’re talking medically, scientifically, or they’re talking religiously in the language of faith, they’re talking about relationship and they’re talking about not being abandoned. Tragically, for many elderly people, they are alone. At least for children, that’s a promise we most often can keep either because a parent is there or because there’s someone else whose heart is touched and steps in as a parent. And when children talk about heaven and heavenly beings, they talk about it in terms of the relationship. There’s one young man…he went off from what was a guided imagery into something that was totally unbidden. And he found himself in a garden, a beautiful garden. And he described it to me that there was a man there who spoke to him. And he said the man had fingers that were like roses. And he said the man told him of his coming death — and this was the day before his death — and he told him not to be afraid. And he asked him if he would like to go with him, but he told him that he couldn’t come quite yet, but he wanted to go with him. And when he was telling me this he had a look of fear on his face, and I recognized what the fear was. It was a fear that I wouldn’t believe him. And I said to him, ‘Do you know who the man was?’ And he said to me, ‘I know it was Jesus. I know it.’ And the thing that struck me is when he was telling me this story, there’s an old gospel hymn that when he was telling me this story I could hardly remember. It’s called “I Come to the Garden.” ‘I come to the garden alone while the dew is still fresh on the roses. And the voice I hear as I tarry there, the Son of God discloses. And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own. And the voice I hear as I tarry there, none other has ever known.’ And I tried singing it for him, and he didn’t recognize the tune at all, but he recognized the imagery. And I talked to his pastor afterwards and his parents, and they both guaranteed me he had never heard that old gospel hymn.” She adds, “I’m thoroughly convinced that children are born with knowledge of their spiritual origins.”
* * *
Psalm 118:14-29
Appreciation
In one of the best known verses in the whole Bible, the psalmist urges, “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Neuroscientist Richie Davidson offers a simple way to bring this rejoicing into our everyday lives. Simple practices like giving thanks, or appreciation, transform us and connect us back to God and the world around us. Davidson says, “Appreciation is a quality that is, unfortunately, not very well appreciated. It is something that’s so accessible. And when we reflect on our challenges during the pandemic, it doesn’t take a lot of thought to recognize that no single person could navigate this alone. We so critically depend upon others.” He adds, “And one of the things that we often recommend to people is to reflect on one’s daily life and regular activities. One that I often use is eating. If we reflect on all of the individuals that have contributed in one way or another to enabling us to have food on the table, and allow the sense of appreciation to arise, it can be so beneficial. And even formulating in a more explicit way, how you might thank a person when you next see her or him, to express your appreciation, your gratitude, this is something that is an elixir for the soul.”
Davidson recalls, “in the early stages of the pandemic, I wish we would’ve chosen the term “physical distancing,” rather than “social distancing,” because we can be socially connected even in solitude. And I think this is a point that Vivek was making, and certainly the research really bears that out. And if we do these simple little exercises on a daily basis, it can be so beneficial.”
This is the day God has given us, let us pause in appreciation.
* * *
Psalm 118:14-29
The Lord is Right Here
“The LORD is my strength and my might,” the psalmist sings. “I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.” Psychologist and author Robert Coles says that children understand this truth deeply. He invites children to draw pictures, and often invites them to draw God. “Well, they’ve turned to me and say ‘No, you don’t. You can’t picture God. You can’t do it because God is not in a picture.’ ‘Well, where is God?’ ‘Well, he’s beyond. Beyond.’ And then I’ve had a kid say to another kid ‘Well, where is he beyond? Is he in the sky? Is he up there near the stars?’ Of course, these are the questions we all ask. And then I’ve had girls say ‘How about she? God is a she; God is a he?’ ‘Well, God is God,’ I’ve had kids say to settle the argument, which is quite beautiful. God is God. You know, in a way, when they settle these things theologically, they’re settling it the way the theology had to settle it. I mean, if the experience is this is almost unfathomable and it’s beyond understanding, then you settle it that way finally. But they try to draw pictures that convey what the Bible conveys of frailty, of suffering, of Jesus hurt and looking worried or tired, his eyes closed because he needs a good nap, or his face alerted to fear. And they put in their pictures — boy, do they — they put in their pictures the emotions and the stories that they’ve learned as a result of their religious experience, evocative pictures that render the evocative nature of religious experience, the mystery of it all.”
We adults may forget, and the children know already.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Acts 5:27-32
Spreading the Gospel
When I was about 8 years old, there was a little boy named Eli who started coming to our church. Eli was full of energy. This kid could color loudly. He was always in motion — as busy as could be. But Eli knew that church was a safe place for him and he was loved. Practically the first thing he did when he talked to people, adults or children, was to invite them to church because he knew God’s love and he would spread it to whoever he could. God bless Eli’s witness of Jesus.
* * *
Revelation 1:4-8
Be All and End All
God is the beginning and the end. Sometimes it feels like the world is ending and sometimes it feels like there are too many things that need to get started. Whenever either of these things happen I lean heavily on God, who is the beginning and the end. I cannot be the be all and end all. There is but one savior and that is Jesus Christ. Too often, we do not set boundaries for ourselves because we think it is up to us to begin and end things. What happens if we lean more on Jesus to make that happen?
* * *
John 20:19-31
Invisible Labor
Thomas and the woman are given very little credit in this scene as the rest of the disciples are clearly hiding from the powers that be. Thomas is bravely out and about and one would assume that the women are also performing invisible labor to make things happen. Are the women in the room with the disciples? I like to think not. Perhaps it is the women who are being praised when Jesus says, “Blessed are those who believe and do not need to see.”
* * *
Psalm 118:14-19
The church is struggling with not being special anymore. We do not want to be made up of the cornerstones that the builder rejected. We would rather be popular, powerful, and full of wealth. But the reality is, of course, we are healthier and better Christians when we trust our strength to be in the Lord. The church is for the faithful, not the perfect. The church is for the occasional, the human, the ones who desperately need community. The church is misfit island. And the less the church worries about being in control and popular and putting on a perfect show, the more beautiful, inclusive and authentic our festal procession will be.
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WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: The Lord is our strength and our might.
All: God has become our salvation.
One: There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
All: “The right hand of God does valiantly.”
One: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
All: We bless you from the house of God.
OR
One: Praise God! Praise God in the sanctuary.
All: Praise God in the mighty firmament!
One: Praise God with trumpet sound, lute, and harp!
All: Praise God with tambourine and dance.
One: Praise God with clanging cymbals, with loud clashing cymbals!
All: Let everything that breathes praise God!
OR
One: Voices have called us into the presence of God.
All: We are grateful for those who told us the good news.
One: That good news in words and deeds led us to life.
All: We rejoice in the care and courage of those people.
One: Now it our turn to share the good news.
All: With God’s help we will act and speak for God!
Hymns and Songs
O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing
UMH: 317
PH: 116/117
NCH: 244
CH: 220
ELW: 386/387
W&P: 313
Alleluia, Alleluia (v. 2 ‘spread the good news)
UMH: 162
H82: 178
PH: 106
CH: 40
W&P: 291
Renew: 271
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Ye Servants of God
UMH: 181
H82: 535
PH: 477
NCH: 305
CH: 110
LBW: 252
W&P: 112
When Morning Gilds the Skies
UMH: 185
H82: 427
PH: 487
AAHH: 186
NCH: 86
CH: 100
LBW: 545/546
ELW: 853
W&P: 111
AMEC: 29
Christ for the World We Sing
UMH: 568
H82: 537
W&P: 561
AMEC: 565
Renew: 299
We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations
UMH: 569
NNBH: 416
W&P: 562
Pass It On
UMH: 572
NNBH: 417
CH: 477
W&P: 557
O Zion, Haste
UMH: 573
H82: 539
NNBH: 422
LBW: 397
ELW: 668
AMEC: 566
Lord, You Give the Great Commission
UMH: 584
H82: 528
PH: 429
CH: 459
ELW: 579
W&P: 592
Renew: 305
People Need the Lord
CCB: 52
I’m Gonna Sing When the Spirit Says Sing
CCB: 22
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is the good news of love:
Grant us the courage to tell of your gracious love
so that others may know the new life you bring;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the good news of love. You love which does not fail is the base on which all creation relies. Help us to be courageous and to share your good news with others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our reluctance to share God’s good news.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been blessed that others have shared the good news about Jesus with us but we fail to tell others about him. We are afraid we will look foolish or that others will mock us. We are full of excuses for not speaking up. We are more like Peter denying Jesus that we are like the Easter Peter who boldly proclaims the Christ. Forgive us and renew us, O God, that we may be faithful disciples of Jesus. Amen.
One: God delights in our sharing the good news and is always ready to supply us with the Spirit, the courage, and the words to say.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God of life and of resurrection. You come to us with good news of your constant, saving love.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been blessed that others have shared the good news about Jesus with us but we fail to tell others about him. We are afraid we will look foolish or that others will mock us. We are full of excuses for not speaking up. We are more like Peter denying Jesus that we are like the Easter Peter who boldly proclaims the Christ. Forgive us and renew us, O God, that we may be faithful disciples of Jesus.
We thank you for all the ways you have loved us. We thank you for those who have shared with us the good news of your redeeming love. We thank you that they were faithful so that we could know Jesus’ love for us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need and ask that our prayers may be part of you loving care for those in need. We remember those who are ill and those who are dying. We pray for the grieving and those lost in sadness and depression. We pray for those who struggle with substance abuse and those caught in violence.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Trusting Your Intuition
by Quantisha Mason-Doll
John 20:19-31
Overall Themes: Trusting your intuition
I believe those are all amazing answers about our friend Thomas. Personally, I think Thomas is a pretty cool guy that has just gotten a bad wrap over the years. Last Sunday was Easter and we all celebrated that the tomb was empty and that our Lord lives again. This event is cause for celebration, but I want to let you in on a little secret: the followers of Jesus, except for the three Marys and our friend Thomas, were too afraid to be seen in public once Jesus had left them.
Thomas was not there when Jesus appeared to the others, as our story tells us, and this is where he gets his name Doubting Thomas. Thomas refused to blindly trust those who hid away from God’s call to carry on the ministry of Jesus. Thomas taught us the difference between knowing something because you experienced it first hand and knowing something because you learned or read about it. Our friend Thomas advocates for himself and actually takes a page from Jesus’ ministry and lays his hands on the person set before him. We should be proud of Thomas and all that he has done.
Prayer
Loving God, aid us as we try to be more like Thomas. We want to know by not only listening but doing. Guide us as we seek to be advocates for ourselves and fulfill Jesus’ ministry.
All glory and honor to the living Lord
Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, April 24, 2022 issue.
Copyright 2022 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Model For Discipleship by Tom Willadsen — Thomas stands out from the others in ways that have been overlooked, perhaps he should be our model for discipleship.
- Second Thoughts: We Preach Christ by Dean Feldmeyer — Come what may, be it good or bad, easy or hard, dangerous or safe, we preach Christ.
- Sermon illustrations by Chris Keating, Mary Austin, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children’s Sermon: Trusting Your Intuition by Quantisha Mason-Doll.
Model For Discipleshipby Tom Willadsen
John 20:19-31; Psalm 150; Acts 5:27-32
Tower of Strength.
Ignorant.
Doubter.
One could make a case for Thomas being each of these, but history has attached “Doubting” to his identity. Let’s reconsider this disciple in the season of Easter. He stands out from the others in ways that have been overlooked. Perhaps he should be our model for discipleship.
In the Scriptures
Psalm 150 reminds us that Easter is a season — not something we left behind last week after the bunny scampered back under the hedge, leaving strands of plastic grass in his wake. Praise God exuberantly, using a wide variety of instruments. Everything, everything should praise God!
Peter has undergone a profound transformation. The one who famously denied even knowing Jesus three times, is boldly preaching Christ crucified. In today’s lesson from Acts he has miraculously escaped prison and was found preaching Christ in the temple. The police were there. The high priests told Peter and the other disciples to stop preaching. Pete has totally gotten “a spinal implant” since the resurrection. While the text does not mention Thomas, he was probably among “the other disciples.” Perhaps some of Thomas’ bravery has rubbed off on Peter.
That’s right; Thomas was brave. In the synoptic gospels Thomas is only a name on the list of disciples. In John’s gospel he stands out from the others.
Pop quiz: Which disciples do we know anything about, besides their names?
Judas, the betrayer, also used to skim money out of the common purse.
Peter gets the most ink among the disciples. He was the first to identify Jesus as the Messiah; he was the one who wanted to build shelters for Jesus, Elijah and Moses; he denied even knowing Jesus three times; Jesus asked Peter three times at the breakfast he catered on the lakeside whether Peter loved him.
James and John were brothers, whom Jesus nicknamed “Sons of Thunder.” They were part of the disciples’ executive committee along with Peter, but they never do or say anything to set themselves apart from the others.
Do we know anything about Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; James, son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus; or Simon the Cananaean? They’re just names on the list.
There are three places, all in John’s gospel, where Thomas sets himself apart from the other disciples. In John 10 Jesus had a conversation at the temple with “the Jews” who asked him whether he was the Messiah. His answer enraged them. “The Jews took up stones again to stone him.” (John 10:31, NRSV) The situation escalated. They tried to arrest him and “he escaped from their hands.” (10:39, NRSV) Jesus and the disciples left Judea.
The next thing that happens is Jesus gets a message that Lazarus is very ill. Two days later, Jesus says to his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” (10:7-8, NRSV)
After a little more conversation, during which Jesus makes it plain to the disciples that Lazarus is dead, Thomas said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (10:16, NRSV)
The grammar is ambiguous; “him” could refer to Lazarus or Jesus. The context makes it clear that Thomas understood the danger Jesus faced in returning to Judea, and was willing to journey with him.
In John 14 Thomas interrupts Jesus’ reassuring words that he would return, by saying, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (14:5, NRSV) A quick reading of the verses that precede Thomas’ question makes it obvious why Thomas didn’t understand. It was late at night, Jesus had already washed their feet and now he was off on this crazy monolog. Thomas was not obtuse or too weary to understand. Thomas was alert enough to raise the question that any of the disciples would have asked if they had really wanted to understand. Thomas wanted to understand. He was not the student who asked, “Is this gonna be on the midterm?” He was the one who would not let the teacher glide over the difficult parts. Good teachers love students like Thomas. Jesus’ response, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Concise and memorable. And elegant. Thomas said he didn’t know where Jesus was going, and Jesus replied, in part, “I am the way.”
Sunday evening, the tomb’s empty and the disciples were meeting behind locked doors “for fear of the Jews.” (John 20:19, NRSV) Jesus appeared in the room with the disciples, breathed on them and commissioned them. Except Thomas, Thomas wasn’t there.
All the other disciples were hiding behind locked doors because they were afraid. Thomas was not with them. Clearly Thomas was not afraid. We can only imagine where Thomas was.
Thomas refused to believe that Jesus had appeared to the other disciples who were hiding in fear, unless he saw and touched Jesus’ wounds.
“Imma do my own research, snowflake!” Yes, imagine Thomas saying that to Philip.
Thomas insisted on literally getting his hands dirty and seeing with his own eyes. Thomas, along with the other disciples, had a front row seat at all of Jesus’ miracles and teaching. He still needed to see for himself that his teacher had been wounded, and bore the wounds following his rising from death.
Thomas’ insistence on understanding led Jesus to say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Thomas’ insistence on seeing with his own eyes, led Jesus to say, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.” That would be all of us.
In the News
Covid-19 appears to be passing out of the headlines. On April 15, the county I live in reported zero cases! Variants continue to emerge and the Department of Transportation has extended its mask mandate, but, for now, the pandemic appears to be at low ebb.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. It appears that Russia is moving troops to focus on the eastern part of the nation. At this point it is not clear whether the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, was sunk by a Ukrainian missile or an accidental fire.
The work of the House Select Committee on January 6 continues. It appears, as those closest to defeated President Donald Trump testify, that a strong case can be made for charges of insurrection against officials in the highest tiers of the Trump administration.
This month’s mass shooting took place on a subway train in Brooklyn, Tuesday, April 12. The assailant threw two smoke grenades then fired 33 shots. No one was killed, but numerous people were injured by gun shots and smoke inhalation while escaping the car. The next day a suspect was arrested.
The news story that has evoked the most outrage was the shooting of an unarmed black man by a police officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The victim, Patrick Lyoya, is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. This incident follows a pattern that is entirely too familiar — a traffic stop of a Black driver by a white police officer that escalated to the use of “deadly force.” Mr. Lyoya was murdered by a public employee sworn to “serve and protect.” The Michigan State Police is investigating and its report is expected to be released by April 16.
The as yet unnamed officer disabled his body camera prior to executing Mr. Lyoya, but video from a bystander and the passenger in Mr. Lyoya’s car captured this appalling event.
White Americans can be outraged at this abuse of civil authority, but we cannot be surprised. Two years ago the nation watched in horror as a St. Paul, Minnesota policeman knelt on George Floyd until he suffocated. It was bystander video of the icy indifference of Derek Chauvin and the cowardly refusal of other officers to intervene that brought Floyd’s murder into our living rooms.
Police violence against marginalized citizens has always been with us. For generations Black Americans have told stories of horrific, dehumanizing treatment at the hands of police officers. Richard Prior performed a comedy bit called “N----- v. the Police” in 1974. The “joke:” “How many cops does it take to kill a Black man? A. None. He fell down the stairs.”
In the Sermon
Thomas is a model for Christian faith. He insisted on understanding what Jesus was saying and seeing his wounds with his own eyes. Thomas’ faith was his own; he was not a Christian by proxy. Thomas believed when he saw with his own eyes. He confessed, “My Lord and my God!” At this point, Jesus’ response is of paramount significance. Jesus replied, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:29, NRSV) That would be all of us. While we affirm “Christ is alive,” we do not have the first hand (literally) experience Thomas had. It is more difficult, or perhaps one could say it takes a greater leap of faith, for Christians who have come nearly 2,000 years after Thomas. Thomas believed his eyes, and he was changed.
If you’ve seen the video of Patrick Lyoya’s murder, do you believe your eyes? Can you accept the reality of systemic police violence against marginalized people in the United States? What actions are you willing to take to oppose this injustice?
SECOND THOUGHTSWe Preach Christ
by Dean Feldmeyer
Acts 5:27-32
Yes, I know. It’s the Sunday after Easter and, as it is every year, it’s Doubting Thomas Week. And my colleague, Tom Willadsen, has written a very compelling article on that text.
But wait, there’s more!
Let’s pivot the camera 180 degrees and focus, for a moment, on the other 10 people in that dark, tight, little room where they are hiding in fear. No doubt, their facial expressions are betraying a certain pensive anxiety as they ask themselves, “Now what?”
And, for many of us, that’s the question on our minds the week after Easter. “Now what?” The Easter sermon that we spent weeks preparing has been preached. The lilies that decorated the sanctuary have been taken home or are starting to wilt. The big Easter crowd has departed until their semi-annual return at Christmas. Life has gone back to normal and many of us preachers are left asking the same question as the apostles: “Now what?”
Luke’s account of Peter before the Sanhedrin answers that question: Now what? Now we preach Christ. Yes, but what about the Sanhedrin? What do we do about them? Same answer: We preach Christ. Yes, but what about the scoffers and the doubters and the cynics and the hypocrites, some of which are in our own churches? What about them? Same answer: We preach Christ.
Come what may, good or bad, light or dark, easy or hard, dangerous or safe, we preach Christ.
In the Scriptures
Today’s reading from Acts goes pretty much like this: Peter and the apostles are standing before the Sanhedrin, the high court of the Jerusalem Temple.
Sanhedrin: Peter, your preaching is stirring up the people against us and we gave you and your friends explicit orders not to preach about this guy, Jesus Christ, did we not?
Peter: Yes, you did.
Sanhedrin: And, yet, you keep preaching about him, anyhow.
Peter: Yes, we do. If the people are getting stirred up, that’s on you. You’re the ones who crucified him. And God raised him up. So, if you want to blame someone, blame yourselves or God, but not us.
Sanhedrin: You realize that you give us no choice but to have you whipped.
Peter: Okay.
Sanhedrin: Do you still intend to preach about Jesus?
Peter: Yes, we do.
Sanhedrin: (angry and indignant) Okay, then we’ll put you in jail!
Peter: Okay.
Sanhedrin: And you’re still going to preach about him, aren’t you?
Peter: Yep.
Sanhedrin: You’re impossible, you know that?
Peter: Yep.
This evangelism stuff can be dangerous. Look what happened to Peter and his bunch. They talked about Jesus and got arrested for their trouble — threatened, jailed and flogged.
My life is complicated enough. I don’t need that kinda stuff in it as well. Please, God, isn’t there a better, less dangerous way to spread the Good News? Something that doesn’t require talking about Jesus?
You’ve probably heard or even quoted St. Francis of Assisi’s famous axiom: “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”
It’s pretty clever and it encourages Christians to live out the gospel in the actions of their daily lives, which is good. There are just two problems.
One, St. Francis never said it. At least there’s no record of him saying it. None of his early biographers or followers quoted him saying it. He never wrote it down. And, he never really followed it himself.
That’s the other problem with the quote. It creates a false and useless dichotomy between speaking and doing when, in fact, we are called to do both. Francis, himself, was an eloquent and effective preacher as well as an active and compassionate minister of the word. And so was Jesus.
So, yes, actions are important. But so are words. I received a valuable lesson to that effect several years ago.
In the World
I was in Nicaragua with a group from my church and we were working at a mission that brought people who were living in the Managua city dump out into the countryside. There, we helped them build houses for their families and learn to do subsistence farming and crafting to support themselves. There was a church and a school and a soccer field and baseball diamond and we had a great time working and playing there at the mission.
On Sunday we worshiped with the residents at their church and then we discovered that the mission had a mission of their own. On Sunday afternoons they went to the men’s prison a few miles away where they led by a Pentecostal worship service and handed out gift bags to the inmates who showed up to worship.
Each bag contained soap and a washcloth and a towel along with a toothbrush and toothpaste and some other little things that made life in the prison more bearable. We were given the bags to hand out and instructed to say, each time we gave someone a bag, “En e nombre de Jesucristo.” In the name of Jesus Christ.
On the way back to the mission one of the young adults in our group asked our guide and interpreter why we were instructed to say that phrase. She explained, “That is so the men understand that we are not doing this because we are privileged, white, morally superior, North Americans. We are doing it because we love Jesus and Jesus has told us to do it.”
Actions are a great way to witness. And sometimes we can bring words to those actions that help others interpret them.
But, when you get right down to it, sometimes actions are just easier than words, right? Sometimes doing is easier than talking.
It’s easy enough to drop a couple of bucks into the bucket in front of a homeless person panhandling on the sidewalk and keep on walking. It’s a lot harder to actually stop and talk to that person.
It’s easy to write a check to the local soup kitchen, or food pantry, or medical clinic. It’s not even all that difficult to volunteer there once a month. But it can be tough to sit down and engage the folks who come there in a conversation.
Throw in a reference or two about Jesus and it gets downright scary.
We don’t want them, or anyone, for that matter, to think we’re some kind of a religious nut, after all.
I can’t help myself. Every time I hear the word evangelist or evangelism, my mind just automatically goes straight to those rich TV charlatans or the guy on the street corner near the Ohio State University campus, one hand clutching a Bible and the other hand pounding the air as he screams at passersby that they’re going to hell. And I don’t want anyone to confuse me with either of those guys.
Look what happened to Peter and the Apostles, for heaven’s sake. They talked about Jesus and it got them thrown in jail and whipped. I don’t need that in my life. So, I’ll just leave the evangelism to the preachers, thank you. I’ll keep doing and let them do the speaking. Right?
Well, no. Jesus is still calling us, preachers and lay people, to do both. So, maybe there’s a better, more appropriate, less threatening way to add speaking to our doing of the gospel, a way that is effective and authentic that won’t get us arrested, laughed at, or make us feared or hated.
In the Sermon
When I was a kid, I thought that there were only two mission fields in the world: China and Africa. Everywhere else, I guess, was pretty much already saved. And all the stories I heard about China and Africa seemed to point to the fact that they were very far away, very different from where I lived, and very dangerous.
So, I just sort of wrote evangelism out of my life. Sorry, Lord. Not for me. I’m sure you’ll find someone else to do it.
And then I heard a speaker at my church who suggested that there were four other mission fields and they were very near to where I lived. Those mission fields were: family, neighbors, friends, and co-workers. Those were the people who were close to me, familiar, and not all that threatening. Many of them, he reminded us, either have not heard the saving, healing, affirming good news of Jesus or they’ve heard it and forgotten it, or they’ve been present when it was spoken but all of the other noise in their lives has drowned it out. These people — our friends, our family, our neighbors, and our co-workers — could benefit not just from our acts of loving kindness but from hearing us speak the Good News as well.
He didn’t suggest that, tomorrow, we just go up to those folks and, without context or preamble, starting talking about Jesus. No, he was much more subtle and clever than that.
First, he reminded us that we don’t have to have a seminary degree or learn a fancy speech or sermon. We don’t have to have a hundred answers to a hundred questions. We don’t have to be Billy Graham or Ernest Fremont Tittle to talk effectively, passionately, compassionately, and authentically about Jesus.
All we had to have was our story. How Jesus entered my life, through my church, through a family member, through a friend, a health care provider, a buddy, or through a group, a choir, a Bible study, a Sunday school class, a softball team, whatever. All we need is the story of how Jesus came into my life and the impact that has had on me.
Then, the other thing we had to have was an appropriate moment. He spent some time talking about inappropriate or insensitive times and ways that people choose to talk about their faith, what they believe and what everyone else should believe. Then he offered some examples of appropriate times and ways to share Jesus with those who need him.
He had a good friend whose adult son took his own life, he said, and his friend’s heart was broken. He wept until he had no more tears to weep. He couldn’t think, eat, or sleep. Then one day, about a week after the funeral there was a knock at the door. He answered and there was a woman about his age. She introduced herself as a neighbor who lived just a few houses down the street from his and, while they had not met, she had heard about his tragedy in their small town newspaper. Then she said: “I have been where you are. Eleven years ago, this summer, my daughter took her own life. I really do know how you feel and, if you’ll let me, I’d like to come in help you bear some of that grief.”
He let her in and they began a friendship that has lasted for more than a decade. She shared with him how her faith in God and Jesus Christ, and the love and support of her church helped her survive that terrible pain. Eventually she invited him to her church. He told her that he already had a church home but he just hadn’t been able to return to it since his son’s death. So, she encouraged him to do so. Let them love you and support you, she told him. Let them be the hands of Jesus for you. He did, and when he did, he realized, that she had already been the hands and feet of Jesus.
In another, less dramatic example, the speaker talked about his wife. She was working in an office where there were a lot of single, young women who regularly complained about not being able to find “a good man.” Often these lamentations came wrapped in humor but she sensed in some of them a real pain beneath all that laughter.
So, one day, as they were in the midst of their favorite topic, she said, “You know, I met my husband in church. We’ve been married 40 years and I truly believe that God had a hand in bringing us together.” At first, the girls laughed and teased her that “you think church is the answer to everything.” But, after a few days, during a break, one of the young women drew her aside and asked her about her church and her marriage.
He concluded that the young woman and her fiancé are now both members of the church where they are learning about Jesus and making friends in the young families Sunday school class.
Finally, he shared about a friend of his who is a 26-year member of AA. This friend says that he has an almost flawless ability to spot an alcoholic and, when he does, he befriends that person. He doesn’t talk about AA. He waits, because he knows from his own experience and the stories that he’s heard at the meetings, that a time will come when that person’s drinking leads them into a hole out of which they cannot climb by themselves.
And when it does, he’ll be there “to jump into the hole and show them how to get out, which I can do because I’ve been down there and I know where the hand holds are.” He shares his story and he invites them to AA and he offers to give them a ride. And sometimes, their “higher power” reaches down through the 12 steps and gives them their life back.
A neighbor suffers an unbearable loss.
A co-worker is lonely and doesn’t know which way to turn.
A friend gets lost in substance dependency.
A family member has a difficult decision to make and needs help making it.
What do we do? First, we befriend them, then we help them. Then we share our story with them.
That’s evangelism.
That’s how WE PREACH CHRIST.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:Psalm 150
Praising God for all creation
Psalm 150 can be said to be a symphony of praise to God. The psalmist describes sounds of trumpet, lute, harp, strings, and tambourine fill the sanctuary with resounding harmonies of praise. It’s a fitting psalm for the Second Sunday of Easter, as well as the Sunday closest to Earth Day 2022. Earth Day offers a concrete way of focusing our praise of God by reminding worshipers that our praise should lead us into faithful response. Listening to creation’s symphony of praise evokes within us responses aimed at becoming better stewards of creation.
“The last five years have shown that the climate crisis is no longer a future worry — it is affecting our communities right now,” Creation Justice Ministries website notes. “Record-breaking storms, extreme weather, and the slow violence of sea level rise are tearing at the physical and social fabric of our society. So-called “natural” disasters in the United States have increased in frequency and intensity in the last two decades.”
* * *
Psalm 150
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord
Poet, writer, farmer and activist Wendell Berry provides another opportunity for listening to creation. “Creation is thus God's presence in creatures,” he writes in Christianity and the Survival of Creation. “The Greek Orthodox theologian Philip Sherrard has written that ‘Creation is nothing less than the manifestation of God's hidden Being.’ This means that we and all other creatures live by a sanctity that is inexpressibly intimate, for to every creature, the gift of life is a portion of the breath and spirit of God. (pg. 308, Christianity and the Survival of Creation).
* * *
John 20:19-31
Lockdowns 2022
The disciples are locked down and isolated from the rest of the world, John reminds us. It’s an experience we remember all too well, and an experience most Americans hope to never experience again. But news reports from Shanghai, China’s financial center, are reminders that the pandemic is far from over. Residents in Shanghai are contending with a weeks-long shut down order, and are facing long stretches without access to food, medicine, or other necessary supplies. Frustrations are running high, and protests are mounting.
It is not an exaggeration to say that a new lockdown in the United States would face obstacles. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, has said he believes another round of US lockdowns would be “very, very difficult.”
* * *
John 20:19-31
Faith as trust
It’s unnecessary to castigate Thomas as a doubter. In fact, some translators suggest Jesus’ words to Thomas are aimed more at cultivating trust than denouncing doubt. (See Rene Such Schreiner’s commentary.)
Our generation is finding it harder and harder to trust, however. The 2022 Edelman Trust index shows that nearly six in ten people now say distrust is their “default tendency,” and that more than half of all individuals believe distrust has become so widespread that it is just about impossible to have “constructive and civil” debates with others who disagree with them. Other findings of the the trust barometer indicate that most people believe government and the media are at fault for fostering distrust. (You can see a top-level summary of the survey here, or visit the Edelman website for the entire report.)
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From team member Mary Austin:John 20:19-31
Doubt
Doubting God and doubting ourselves travel together. Writer Anne Lamott recalls that she became a Christian before she got sober, telling, “I had converted to Christianity while drunk, at a tiny church, and about a year later, several months sober, I was baptized. My pastor was a tall, brilliant, progressive preacher named James Noel, who looked a lot like Marvin Gaye, which was only part of the reason I kept coming back. I called him the morning of my baptism to tell him that, regrettably, I’d have to cancel the baptism, as I was currently too damaged and foul for words. I promised to call him when I got a bit better. He said to get my butt over to church, that I wasn’t going to heal sitting alone on my ten-by-twelve-foot houseboat. He said I didn’t have to get it together before I could be included and, in fact, couldn’t get it together without experiencing inclusion.”
Being part of God’s story was waiting for her, no matter her flaws, in the same way it was for Thomas, and in the same way it is for us. (from Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy)
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John 20:19-31
Seeing Jesus
The disciples receive the gift of seeing Jesus, and then Thomas, later gets the same gift. Dr. Diane Komp, who works with children who have cancer, says that the essential need of dying people is to know they’re not alone.
She recalls a young boy who also had a powerful experience of seeing Jesus. “When children talk about dying, about heaven, about their own death, whether they’re talking medically, scientifically, or they’re talking religiously in the language of faith, they’re talking about relationship and they’re talking about not being abandoned. Tragically, for many elderly people, they are alone. At least for children, that’s a promise we most often can keep either because a parent is there or because there’s someone else whose heart is touched and steps in as a parent. And when children talk about heaven and heavenly beings, they talk about it in terms of the relationship. There’s one young man…he went off from what was a guided imagery into something that was totally unbidden. And he found himself in a garden, a beautiful garden. And he described it to me that there was a man there who spoke to him. And he said the man had fingers that were like roses. And he said the man told him of his coming death — and this was the day before his death — and he told him not to be afraid. And he asked him if he would like to go with him, but he told him that he couldn’t come quite yet, but he wanted to go with him. And when he was telling me this he had a look of fear on his face, and I recognized what the fear was. It was a fear that I wouldn’t believe him. And I said to him, ‘Do you know who the man was?’ And he said to me, ‘I know it was Jesus. I know it.’ And the thing that struck me is when he was telling me this story, there’s an old gospel hymn that when he was telling me this story I could hardly remember. It’s called “I Come to the Garden.” ‘I come to the garden alone while the dew is still fresh on the roses. And the voice I hear as I tarry there, the Son of God discloses. And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own. And the voice I hear as I tarry there, none other has ever known.’ And I tried singing it for him, and he didn’t recognize the tune at all, but he recognized the imagery. And I talked to his pastor afterwards and his parents, and they both guaranteed me he had never heard that old gospel hymn.” She adds, “I’m thoroughly convinced that children are born with knowledge of their spiritual origins.”
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Psalm 118:14-29
Appreciation
In one of the best known verses in the whole Bible, the psalmist urges, “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Neuroscientist Richie Davidson offers a simple way to bring this rejoicing into our everyday lives. Simple practices like giving thanks, or appreciation, transform us and connect us back to God and the world around us. Davidson says, “Appreciation is a quality that is, unfortunately, not very well appreciated. It is something that’s so accessible. And when we reflect on our challenges during the pandemic, it doesn’t take a lot of thought to recognize that no single person could navigate this alone. We so critically depend upon others.” He adds, “And one of the things that we often recommend to people is to reflect on one’s daily life and regular activities. One that I often use is eating. If we reflect on all of the individuals that have contributed in one way or another to enabling us to have food on the table, and allow the sense of appreciation to arise, it can be so beneficial. And even formulating in a more explicit way, how you might thank a person when you next see her or him, to express your appreciation, your gratitude, this is something that is an elixir for the soul.”
Davidson recalls, “in the early stages of the pandemic, I wish we would’ve chosen the term “physical distancing,” rather than “social distancing,” because we can be socially connected even in solitude. And I think this is a point that Vivek was making, and certainly the research really bears that out. And if we do these simple little exercises on a daily basis, it can be so beneficial.”
This is the day God has given us, let us pause in appreciation.
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Psalm 118:14-29
The Lord is Right Here
“The LORD is my strength and my might,” the psalmist sings. “I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.” Psychologist and author Robert Coles says that children understand this truth deeply. He invites children to draw pictures, and often invites them to draw God. “Well, they’ve turned to me and say ‘No, you don’t. You can’t picture God. You can’t do it because God is not in a picture.’ ‘Well, where is God?’ ‘Well, he’s beyond. Beyond.’ And then I’ve had a kid say to another kid ‘Well, where is he beyond? Is he in the sky? Is he up there near the stars?’ Of course, these are the questions we all ask. And then I’ve had girls say ‘How about she? God is a she; God is a he?’ ‘Well, God is God,’ I’ve had kids say to settle the argument, which is quite beautiful. God is God. You know, in a way, when they settle these things theologically, they’re settling it the way the theology had to settle it. I mean, if the experience is this is almost unfathomable and it’s beyond understanding, then you settle it that way finally. But they try to draw pictures that convey what the Bible conveys of frailty, of suffering, of Jesus hurt and looking worried or tired, his eyes closed because he needs a good nap, or his face alerted to fear. And they put in their pictures — boy, do they — they put in their pictures the emotions and the stories that they’ve learned as a result of their religious experience, evocative pictures that render the evocative nature of religious experience, the mystery of it all.”
We adults may forget, and the children know already.
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From team member Katy Stenta:Acts 5:27-32
Spreading the Gospel
When I was about 8 years old, there was a little boy named Eli who started coming to our church. Eli was full of energy. This kid could color loudly. He was always in motion — as busy as could be. But Eli knew that church was a safe place for him and he was loved. Practically the first thing he did when he talked to people, adults or children, was to invite them to church because he knew God’s love and he would spread it to whoever he could. God bless Eli’s witness of Jesus.
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Revelation 1:4-8
Be All and End All
God is the beginning and the end. Sometimes it feels like the world is ending and sometimes it feels like there are too many things that need to get started. Whenever either of these things happen I lean heavily on God, who is the beginning and the end. I cannot be the be all and end all. There is but one savior and that is Jesus Christ. Too often, we do not set boundaries for ourselves because we think it is up to us to begin and end things. What happens if we lean more on Jesus to make that happen?
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John 20:19-31
Invisible Labor
Thomas and the woman are given very little credit in this scene as the rest of the disciples are clearly hiding from the powers that be. Thomas is bravely out and about and one would assume that the women are also performing invisible labor to make things happen. Are the women in the room with the disciples? I like to think not. Perhaps it is the women who are being praised when Jesus says, “Blessed are those who believe and do not need to see.”
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Psalm 118:14-19
The church is struggling with not being special anymore. We do not want to be made up of the cornerstones that the builder rejected. We would rather be popular, powerful, and full of wealth. But the reality is, of course, we are healthier and better Christians when we trust our strength to be in the Lord. The church is for the faithful, not the perfect. The church is for the occasional, the human, the ones who desperately need community. The church is misfit island. And the less the church worries about being in control and popular and putting on a perfect show, the more beautiful, inclusive and authentic our festal procession will be.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: The Lord is our strength and our might.
All: God has become our salvation.
One: There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
All: “The right hand of God does valiantly.”
One: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
All: We bless you from the house of God.
OR
One: Praise God! Praise God in the sanctuary.
All: Praise God in the mighty firmament!
One: Praise God with trumpet sound, lute, and harp!
All: Praise God with tambourine and dance.
One: Praise God with clanging cymbals, with loud clashing cymbals!
All: Let everything that breathes praise God!
OR
One: Voices have called us into the presence of God.
All: We are grateful for those who told us the good news.
One: That good news in words and deeds led us to life.
All: We rejoice in the care and courage of those people.
One: Now it our turn to share the good news.
All: With God’s help we will act and speak for God!
Hymns and Songs
O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing
UMH: 317
PH: 116/117
NCH: 244
CH: 220
ELW: 386/387
W&P: 313
Alleluia, Alleluia (v. 2 ‘spread the good news)
UMH: 162
H82: 178
PH: 106
CH: 40
W&P: 291
Renew: 271
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Ye Servants of God
UMH: 181
H82: 535
PH: 477
NCH: 305
CH: 110
LBW: 252
W&P: 112
When Morning Gilds the Skies
UMH: 185
H82: 427
PH: 487
AAHH: 186
NCH: 86
CH: 100
LBW: 545/546
ELW: 853
W&P: 111
AMEC: 29
Christ for the World We Sing
UMH: 568
H82: 537
W&P: 561
AMEC: 565
Renew: 299
We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations
UMH: 569
NNBH: 416
W&P: 562
Pass It On
UMH: 572
NNBH: 417
CH: 477
W&P: 557
O Zion, Haste
UMH: 573
H82: 539
NNBH: 422
LBW: 397
ELW: 668
AMEC: 566
Lord, You Give the Great Commission
UMH: 584
H82: 528
PH: 429
CH: 459
ELW: 579
W&P: 592
Renew: 305
People Need the Lord
CCB: 52
I’m Gonna Sing When the Spirit Says Sing
CCB: 22
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is the good news of love:
Grant us the courage to tell of your gracious love
so that others may know the new life you bring;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the good news of love. You love which does not fail is the base on which all creation relies. Help us to be courageous and to share your good news with others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our reluctance to share God’s good news.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been blessed that others have shared the good news about Jesus with us but we fail to tell others about him. We are afraid we will look foolish or that others will mock us. We are full of excuses for not speaking up. We are more like Peter denying Jesus that we are like the Easter Peter who boldly proclaims the Christ. Forgive us and renew us, O God, that we may be faithful disciples of Jesus. Amen.
One: God delights in our sharing the good news and is always ready to supply us with the Spirit, the courage, and the words to say.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God of life and of resurrection. You come to us with good news of your constant, saving love.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been blessed that others have shared the good news about Jesus with us but we fail to tell others about him. We are afraid we will look foolish or that others will mock us. We are full of excuses for not speaking up. We are more like Peter denying Jesus that we are like the Easter Peter who boldly proclaims the Christ. Forgive us and renew us, O God, that we may be faithful disciples of Jesus.
We thank you for all the ways you have loved us. We thank you for those who have shared with us the good news of your redeeming love. We thank you that they were faithful so that we could know Jesus’ love for us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need and ask that our prayers may be part of you loving care for those in need. We remember those who are ill and those who are dying. We pray for the grieving and those lost in sadness and depression. We pray for those who struggle with substance abuse and those caught in violence.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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CHILDREN'S SERMONTrusting Your Intuition
by Quantisha Mason-Doll
John 20:19-31
Overall Themes: Trusting your intuition
- Understanding the difference between knowing something because you experienced it first hand and knowing something because you learned / read about it.
- Kids Help Self-esteem (kids health)
- 12 Tips for Raising Confident Kids (childmind.org)
- 12 Strategies to Motivate Your Child to Learn (education corner)
I believe those are all amazing answers about our friend Thomas. Personally, I think Thomas is a pretty cool guy that has just gotten a bad wrap over the years. Last Sunday was Easter and we all celebrated that the tomb was empty and that our Lord lives again. This event is cause for celebration, but I want to let you in on a little secret: the followers of Jesus, except for the three Marys and our friend Thomas, were too afraid to be seen in public once Jesus had left them.
Thomas was not there when Jesus appeared to the others, as our story tells us, and this is where he gets his name Doubting Thomas. Thomas refused to blindly trust those who hid away from God’s call to carry on the ministry of Jesus. Thomas taught us the difference between knowing something because you experienced it first hand and knowing something because you learned or read about it. Our friend Thomas advocates for himself and actually takes a page from Jesus’ ministry and lays his hands on the person set before him. We should be proud of Thomas and all that he has done.
Prayer
Loving God, aid us as we try to be more like Thomas. We want to know by not only listening but doing. Guide us as we seek to be advocates for ourselves and fulfill Jesus’ ministry.
All glory and honor to the living Lord
Amen.
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The Immediate Word, April 24, 2022 issue.
Copyright 2022 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
