Beyond "Star Gazing"

Sunday closest to the Ascension, May 24, 2009-Acts 1:1-11; Luke 24:44-53

I will tell you a favorite story. One morning there are 2 men who wish to ascend in a hot air balloon. When they are first airborne the day is absolutely gorgeous. The sky is an azure blue. The sun is nearing its zenith. But then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere a great wind blows up. As the wind gusts ferociously their balloon is lifted higher and higher, being bandied about. So they are whipped thither and yon for nearly an hour. Then the wind subsides. They are able to descend closer to the earth. But they don't recognize any of the landmarks. Eventually they see a man below them working on the ground. They holler at him, "Where are we?" The man stares up at them and responds, "In a hot air balloon!" At that one of the balloonists remarks to the other, "That guy must be a preacher!" "Why would you say that?" the second one queries. "Because, he knows the truth, but he's so heavenly minded that he's no earthly good!"

I tell this story because it's the Sunday closest to the Day of Ascension. The Day of Ascension is marked on the 40th day of Easter. It's that day when we hear of the risen Lord ascending to heaven – to be with God the Creator, taking leave from his disciples. Some people wish to argue whether this rising is metaphorical or strictly historical. Some who cling to the historical dimension as being the most important part of Jesus' ascension, want to argue ad nauseum about how Jesus' ascension could have occurred. Such people are convinced that accepting Jesus' ascension as a historical fact is absolutely essential to faith in him as God's Son.

But what matters to me here is the focus that Luke, the author of Acts gives us. Firstly, it is Jesus who is speaking to the disciples and hence also to us. Jesus is no stranger to suffering. Indeed it is primarily through his suffering and death that Jesus comes to his early disciples as the risen Lord. In his suffering, death and resurrection they see that Jesus is the One who has the ability, the power to care for and act on behalf of all people. It's not a disembodied entity or some cosmic Spirit that is speaking to them or to us here. It is Jesus who has experienced the power of suffering, death, hatred and evil who now speaks to them.

Secondly Jesus wants his disciples both to know about and to experience his rule, his reign. Jesus' reign is not one of violence or hatred. Examining the Gospel of Luke a little more closely we see this in Jesus' first sermon in chapter 4. There as he quotes Isaiah he declares that he himself has come to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, the Jubilee. It is from this context that Jesus calls His followers to follow Him as He works to bring about his reign. Such "following" means here and now, in the places we live. Such following also has consequences both here and now but also for the future, yes even, forever and ever.

Thirdly Jesus' rule isn't ushered in by gimmicks, by human sophistry or manipulation. Not that technology, wisdom or intelligence, can't be used to serve him. Not at all. But we need to know that we are incapable of following Him strictly on our own. We can't unconditionally love, forgive or change hearts and minds, even our own, independently. We need the Spirit that Jesus speaks of, God's very spirit, for such change, such power.

Now the power of God's Spirit is amazing. It is so different from human power which so often grasps, wrestles, longs for, covets. For instance, human power may agree to take steroids – if that means extra millions, fleeting fame, popular admiration. Human power will mass weapons in order to cause fear, to seek control. And if that doesn't work too often human power has used whatever weapons it has had at its disposal, thereby destroying thousands if not millions of innocents, including flora and fauna, wildlife. Human power is obsessed with avoiding its own death, but in doing so often perpetuates even more death. In contrast God's power gives itself over to death in the name and cause of love for others, of the well being of others. In Jesus, God's self-emptying of all seeming power is done for the goal of limiting the power and range of death and evil among others.

As we are encountered by Jesus through the book Acts he tells those earliest disciples that he is entrusting them with the most important of all responsibilities and privileges. They will be his witnesses! They are charged with showing and telling others about him. As they turn to Him daily they are to experience and share His forgiveness, new beginnings with God and with each other. He is trusting them to do that. If they don't, – well will anyone else? Amazingly, this is a job that Jesus gives not to angels or even to the elemental forces of nature – but to mere human beings: fallible sinful frightened, selfish, questioning, doubting, demanding certainty human beings. Yes, human beings like you and me, including you and me, are the ones Jesus entrusts with this incredible responsibility and privilege.

Then in the book of Acts just after Jesus has told those earliest disciples that they will be his witnesses, he takes his leave. Acts tells this so simply, "When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight."

Did you notice the disciples' reaction? They are staring after him. Who wouldn't? Perhaps they were hoping he would return immediately – or that they would see something else that they could tell others. Perhaps they were too terrified to go back to their lives, or were paralyzed by wondering about what they should do next. In any case they procrastinate by staring upwards. In that state, in some ways being heavenly-minded two men in white robes stand by them. Do you remember men in white robes from before? Yes, on Easter morning in Luke's account 2 men in dazzling apparel ask the women at the tomb, why were they looking for the living among the dead? Whoever these "men" are, they have a message both for the early disciples and for us. They ask them, "Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

I am convinced that this is the men in white robes way of saying – move on, do what Jesus tells you to do. Go to Jerusalem, even to hated Samaria. Go to Richmond, go to Surrey, to Parkesville, to Vancouver, to the places you love, even to the places that make you uneasy. There, in all those places by the power of the Spirit, the power that God so graciously gives you daily in your baptism – listen and watch for that Spirit. Live your lives seeking to follow Jesus, knowing that the significant powers of death and evil must not and cannot limit you. Let others know that Jesus loves them, body, mind and Spirit as you care for and about them. And know that you are not alone. The powers that rail against life and mercy are not all there is. For this Jesus who empties Himself is Lord – even now of the living.

May it be so among us, through us and with us on this Sunday we remember Jesus' Ascension. God knows that each person and our entire world needs people who live their lives as witnesses to this love and power of Jesus the Christ. You see, by the grace of God it is possible in some very intentional ways to be heavenly minded but also then as a result of that some earthly good. Amen.

Connected and Vibrantly Alive

 

5^th Sunday of Easter, May 10, 2009 (also Mother's Day)

(Acts 8:26-40; I John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8)

Have you ever wrestled with what you can do on your own, all by yourself? Think carefully – even in terms of your actions so far today. Turning over in bed and forcing open my eyes I checked my alarm clock. It was working. But I couldn't have done told the time all on my own. BC Hydro is at work allowing my alarm clock to function. Upon arising I walked into the bathroom and pressed the light switch. Hurrah again for BC Hydro. But where does the hydro-electric power come from? Ah yes, water from rivers whose power is harnassed by dams. But remember: God creates the water cycle, the rivers, and thus the possibilities for dams.

 

After showering, for which I also thank the city of Richmond, I got dressed. Hurrah for clothes. But where do the clothes come from? Check the labels – made in Canada; made in China; made in the US. Thanks for all those people and those who transported them to the stores where I purchased them. Thanks for the cotton and other fabric and those who worked to harvest the same. And, where did all those people come from? Did they create or birth themselves? Well, some will argue that's it all chance or some great big bit of luck. But as a Christian I will make a faith statement: our lives are gifts from God!

 

Once dressed, I took our dog for a walk – down the steps of our house, outside into the semi-darkness. A full moon shed some light on our journey. After my walk I got into my car. Thank you Ford and all the people at the Ford plant in Oshawa or Detroit or wherever. But thanks also to the people and fields of Africa where the rubber for the tires came from, and to the people of the Middle East or northern Alberta where the oil was extracted from the earth or even those working on humongous floating platforms above the ocean. And thank you God for creating conditions so that oil can be formed.

 

Eventually I arrived at the church building. What a beautiful place this is. Thanks be to all the people who have been or who are a part of a faith community that over the last 50 years have been attempting to respond to God's goodness here. As part of their response to God's grace they worked to construct and maintain this building. Thanks also to all those who in some way proclaimed God's good and gracious word so that this Christian community could be formed in the first place. Of course such people probably number in the millions going back to long before Jesus – to Abraham and Sarah! 

 

So, I ask you again, what can you do strictly on your own? 

 

In today's Gospel located in John 15 Christ is in the process of saying goodbye to his disciples. He is soon going to be killed in Jerusalem. He has just told them at the end of chapter 14 that they are to get up and be on their way to Jerusalem. But before they can even take a few steps, Christ has more to say. He employs imagery that to us may seem ho-hum, even boring, because some of us are so far removed from the earth. But try to listen anyway, trusting that God's Spirit can move us. "I am the true vine and my Father is the vinegrower". Jesus follows that statement by underlining the importance of  pruning for fruit to be borne on this vine. Then in verse 5 Jesus makes a key statement: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them, bear much fruit, BECAUSE APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING!" 

 

At times we neglect what the Bible actually says.  It may be because we are in church and may be distracted by someone around us. It may be because we are very tired from our activities of the night before. Or our neglect of what the Bible is telling us may occur because we can't make the cultural jumps from 2000 years ago that are the original setting of the words we now hear. That may mean that we don't understand what is being said in the Scripture. Or our neglect may occur because the power of evil doesn't really want us to hear anything Jesus says. There could be many reasons why we don't hear as the Scripture speaks.

 

But now I invite you to hear Jesus' words coming through a faith community to us from long ago. His words are very relevant for us:  "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them, bear much fruit, BECAUSE APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING!"

 

Do we hear him? Apart from Jesus we can do nothing! Nada, squat! Not much room for argument here, if we trust that Jesus is the Son of God, the light of the world, our Saviour who alone has the power to move us through death to new life, while also transforming our hearts and our minds.

 

Could we reflect on this in another way? Let me ask you this question. Can you love another person? To be sure we write songs about love. We write and read books about love. We make and watch movies about all kinds of things that we label as love. But, can you unconditionally, without any selfishness deeply care for and consistently act for someone else other than yourself? To further clarify the question let me add this. Can you love someone else who hurts you, whom you may particularly dislike?

 

I think that in my own life there are moments, there are instances when I have loved someone else in that way. But such love isn't my own achievement. If I am honest about my thoughts, feelings, and actions, much more often than not my first thought is of what I want, of what I may think I like, of what's convenient or inconvenient for me, even of what I think I need. I can so easily be irritated by others, sometimes simply because they are like me, remind me of things I don't like about myself that I have tried and tried to change but have been unable to. Sometimes others irritate me because they are different from me and I don't think that they should be acting in that particular way.

 

But occasionally, by the grace of God, without thinking, without any conscious wish of what's in it for me, I respond to the crying baby in the middle of the night, to the person who is hungry and calls the church office, to my own daughter or friend simply because they have a need. In those moments at that time the love of Christ by God's grace has found its way into my heart and mind and been poured over someone else. But make no mistake: that is not my accomplishment. Rather, this is God, the Spirit of God coming through the millions who have gone before us, whose lives and hearts and minds have been moved to love and care, to share the good news that is in Christ.

 

Contrary to the myth of our North American culture, we are not a bunch of individuals who have rights, whose purpose is to assert ourselves over against others, to win at almost any cost while others lose. Rather we are people, created wondrously who need to be intricately and intimately attached to a vine, THE VINE, the Very SON OF GOD. His  life emanates from God the Creator, God the Father and God the Mother who loves this world, all her people and all creation with a love that is selfless and oh, so hopeful. In Him we are intimately connected to each other and this earth.

 

And this God, who becomes human in Jesus wills for us to be near to Him/Her to live from that connection so that we can both experience God's unconditional love and then have our hearts and minds daily changed so that here and now we can share that love with others.

 

We can't do this on our own. Our selfishness, our fear, our anger, our apathy, our willingness to blame others instead of examining our own hearts and minds get in the way. And the powers that conspire against love and mercy that are beyond us also conspire against our desire, our efforts to care. On our own, left to our own devices, our truth is that we just keep on hurting and even killing the ones we so desperately need to love, including ourselves.

 

But Jesus comes to effect change within us, among us and beyond us, here and now, tomorrow and always. Jesus invites us, commands us to trust Him, to be connected to him, to speak and listen to him, individually and collectively. On our own in such matters we can do nothing. But in Him, with God all things are possible.

 

So, think carefully. What can you do on your own?

 

But, also remember that by God's grace we don't have to be, we aren't meant to be on our own. Jesus bears the truth when He says,  "I am the vine, you are the branches, those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit" May it be so with us, for Christ's sake, Amen.

Show and Tell As God's Children

 

3^rd Sunday of Easter, April 26, 2009

Luke 24:36b-48 with Acts 3:12-19 and I John 3:1-7

 

You are witnesses of these things!

 

We observe many realities. At 5 AM I heard birds serenading a brand new dawn. I watched a few of you drive into the church parking lot, make your way up the sidewalk, and enter the nave. I have overheard you Sunday after Sunday conversing with each other. At times there is small talk. At others times there are also questions of concern: "How are you doing?" How is your child, your mother or father, your son or daughter, your friend? Often there is also a mutual caring. This past week I have also noticed mothers nursing their babies, older and younger couples holding hands. I have been privileged to be with an older woman whose mind though at times seemingly confused still rejoices as she hears her adult grandchildren sing the promises of faith that have upheld her through her 91 years. I have felt her hold my hands in hers and with joy say, wunderbar as she listens to me read Scripture. Yes, we observe so much. But I wonder: what are we willing to witness to? What would we deeply desire to share with others whatever the cost?

 

Those early disciples had seen a lot. They heard Jesus speak in a synagogue. He had told them stories that moved their hearts. He had touched people that few if any would even approach. He had taken children up in his arms, that that the disciples had wanted to shush. Those disciples could likely read Jesus' eyes. They knew many of the inflections of his voice. But NOW, he has been taken away from them. Worse than that, not just taken but literally ripped from their presence. And then, Jesus had been executed. Though many of them hadn't seen that with their own eyes, others had told them. It was common knowledge. Jesus was dead!

 

To make things worse, they had abandoned him. Now the truth was obvious. Once they had an image of who they were. But Jesus' suffering and death brought to light a much deeper reality about their lives than they had ever wanted to see. They are cowards. When push came to shove they had thought of themselves first. They had abandoned him. Now they are ashamed, broken, paralyzed by fear.

 

Yes, they had hoped in him. Maybe they even had hoped a bit in themselves.  But in his death, the shadows of darkness not only lengthened – those shadows of their failure, and fear, of the horrific powers of empire and death.  Now those shadows engulfed and swallowed them whole. There they are, DESPAIRING.  

 

Can you identify?

 

I have often set numerous goals. I make promises to myself, to others, sometimes even to God. I will maintain closer contact. I will call them or email them regularly. I will spend more time in prayer. I will be a better caretaker of the earth. I will drive less, spend less, walk more. I will be more appreciative of my wife. I will even cook occasionally. I will out of the blue phone, email our children. I will visit those people who are somewhat disconnected from this community. But then other realities encroach, my realities. I get busy. I am tired. I am preoccupied with others, with things I am convinced that I need to do. Then my promises are forgotten or delayed. They are to be sure shattered. Life and death wade in. The hours, the days, the months, the years pass. My good promises, my honorable intentions are swallowed up disappearing like a shimmering mirage of water hanging over pavement on a hot summer's day as one approaches. 

 

Sometimes those affected by my broken promises, by my failures to love and care for them mumble – that it's OK, that my failure doesn't matter. At other times those affected, those hurt show that not keeping my promises does matter. They cry. They had counted on me. Species of birds, fish and other creatures even disappear. In those moments I am confronted by who I am. Sometimes my negligence, my consumption, my preoccupation and fear result in loss, pain for others and to be sure, for myself.

 

To be sure those early disciples of Jesus are in great pain. But to this pain of Jesus' suffering and death and their abandonment of him comes another word – the Word. First, some of their number come and tell them that they have seen Jesus. He is no longer dead, held by the deep shadows of hatred and violence – of might is right. Instead he has been raised! He is alive. Now he appears to them. They are terrified. He is not a ghost. He somehow has flesh and bones. To remind them of who he is – he eats with them as he so often has. They are still not convinced. They may be overjoyed – but it's too good to be true. They are still skeptical.

 

Luke tells us that Jesus is aware of their skepticism. So now Jesus teaches them, opening their minds. Truly Jesus was to suffer, to rise from the dead. In that reality he enables those disciples to turn to God. And in turning to God they experience new beginnings – firstly with God, and then with others and all creation.

 

It is only then that Jesus tells those early disciples that they are witnesses of these things. They don't just observe these realities. They are also to share these amazing realities with others – in fact with all peoples, dare I say it, therefore also with all creation. 

 

The fact that we are present in this place, that there are people who continue to experience in some ways the reality of the risen Jesus tells us unmistakably that those disciples did become witnesses, not mere observers, but also people who told, who embodied the truth that Jesus is alive and brings with Him new life.

 

It is Jesus who suffered and suffers as others suffer who is alive. It is Jesus who cared about people in their totality, mind, body and spirit, who then fed them, healed them, listened to them, touched them, restored them to community who is alive. It is Jesus, who loves the world – who suffers and dies but is also raised that calls those early disciples and all people into a community that eats together, prays together, and is sent out to love the world. The disciples are witnesses to these things. 

 

The focus, the foundation of their lives is the reality of this Jesus, the One whom they eventually begin to call Lord.

 

We observe and experience many realities. Some are wonderful, amazing, heart warming, inspiring. Others are horrific, tragic, depressing, seeking to drag us down into the very depths of the pit. And all are real, part of this experience we call "life". Jesus, the Messiah is not absent from any of this, but comes into it all, FOR US and for all CREATION. He comes not as a stranger but as One who knows, who himself suffers and dies at the hands of the powers of violence, hatred, jealousy, fear, apathy, – in a very real sense at our hands. We need to experience this reality. If we don't we are missing on important parts of our truth.

 

But, this Jesus doesn't turn His back on us. He finds us, even as we are held by the strongest forces of failure, of rejection, both within and beyond ourselves. He comes as this suffering, dying, wounded one – with wounded hands, hearts and sometimes mind – and brings us towards new life. For you see He is also risen, alive. He wants to show us that with God even though the forces of death and evil are horribly powerful both individually and collectively – they are not the lasting, nor the final word. The risen noticeably wounded Jesus comes to bring us and the world new life, forgiveness, new beginnings. God can do this – even to and with and among us. Are we watching, observing, experiencing?

            As we are he calls us to be his witnesses. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are!    (I John 3:1) Amen.

Sent Bearing Peace

 

Easter 2b, April 19, 2009 (John 20:19-31)

"PEACE BE WITH YOU!"

 

What is such peace? Some people view peace as a quiet inner tranquility – a kind of being lifted above and beyond any of the gut wrenching struggles that are part of our human fabric. If that is the peace of Christ then Thomas must not have received it. Granted, there are a number of traditions about the life of the one referred to as Thomas in today's Gospel lesson. One of the major traditions in the Church is that Thomas sailed to India, worked there as a carpenter, preached the gospel, performed miracles and died a martyr's death near present-day Madras (now called Chennai). I wonder, is it possible for peace to coexist with martyrdom???

 

Indeed what kind of a gift is this peace that Christ promises, brings and gives?  (Pause)

 

Upon examination of our own lives and the lives of others around us, others who also may claim to "believe" in Christ we note that there are many struggles. Life and death are interwoven like inhaling and exhaling. Joy and despair continue to flood over us, sometimes years apart, but occasionally on the same day, even in the same hour. Faith and doubt sometimes coexist within our minds and hearts. Life is not a bowl of cherries. Neither is life exclusively the pits. In this mixed bag, this ongoing journey of life there continue to be amazing struggles of life and death, hope and despair, faith and doubt.

 

"Peace be with you", Christ says to those early disciples who are confined in that  closed/locked room. After that, according to our text almost in the very next breath, he gives them a command: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." We acknowledge this sending with words in the baptismal service. As part of that sacramental act the Presiding Minister says over the newly baptized: "Through Baptism God has made this new sister/brother a member of the priesthood we all share in Christ Jesus, that we may proclaim the praise of God and bear God's creative and redeeming Word to all the world."

 

The risen Christ clearly sends those early disciples into the world. I am convinced that the risen Christ wills to send all His followers into the world. What does this "world" consist of for us? Could the world be wherever we go, wherever we live and move and have our being? Could the world be, even beyond that?

 

To be sure the world for us as followers of the risen Christ includes our homes, our schools, our churches, the ball parks, the soccer pitches, the business transactions that we are part of. We are called to bear God's creative and redeeming Word to all those places. Such a Word starts with a large, a capital W. This Word is Christ himself. We are to carry Him with us in all our living: His love, His forgiveness, His care and concern for all!

 

His sending us to bear Himself to others is an amazing calling! To undertake such action on our own would be mission impossible! But the earliest disciples are not sent out alone. Nor are we. Did you notice Christ's action even as He was speaking? "When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any they are retained.'"

 

He breathed on them. This is reminiscent of God's act for humanity in the 2^nd creation account of Genesis 2. There the Lord God forms man – that is adam, earthling, from the dust of the ground, and breathed into that one's nostrils the breath of life. Then the man becomes a living being. God in the flesh, the risen Christ, now breathes on those early disciples and they receive His Spirit. And SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENS TO THEM! Now they are enabled to get up off their butts. Now they begin to be freed from fear. They leave the confines of that locked room. They go outside to show, to tell of Jesus, His love, of His suffering and death, of His new life – for all!

 

As they go seeking to obey Jesus in being sent to bear Him to the world, they begin to experience new life, new beginnings with God, with each other, with the entire world.

 

The early disciples aren't the only ones who have been bogged down, trapped, caught by fear, anxiety and depression. We are too. Take a brief inventory of your own life. Are you stuck in some places, with some people? Do you ever feel trapped? Where are the places that fear holds you back, preventing you from moving  in a new or different direction? Where are the places where everything seems so dark that you can't find a way or be hopeful? The early disciples aren't the only ones who find themselves in locked room, afraid to move.

 

Nevertheless Christ enters that room. Christ can enter all of the rooms of our lives too. Today we will have the incredible privilege of sharing the Lord's Supper. In this meal, Christ himself promises to come to us, to forgive us, to grant us new life with God, with others, with creation. The presiding minister says in obedience to Chris's command, "The body of Christ given for you. The blood of Christ shed for you!" Jesus gives us Himself. In such giving, His dying and rising we are being delivered to new beginnings. Today is a new beginning with God, with others, and with the world. Such is part of the intention of Jesus' resurrection.

 

Do we dare to trust His promise or are we skeptical like Thomas, uttering "unless" or sarcastically "yah, right? or a doubting dominant, "No way!"

 

The author of the Gospel of John portrays Jesus in many ways. But the author's primary way of speaking of Jesus is as the Word of God. Jesus is God's way of communicating with the world! God so loves the world that God sends His only Son into the world, to live in this world.  All who trust Jesus experience new life, do experience new beginnings now and forever. This is God's promise!

 

John's Gospel also tells us that Jesus is the light of the world. This light shines into and on the darkness of the world. Although such darkness is real and powerful, the darkness of the world cannot expel the light that Jesus is and brings.  In fact John's Gospel tells us that the light of Jesus casts out the darkness of the world. Surely this must also include the darkness of our own lives. 

 

It is this Jesus, the Light of the world, the Word of God, who via his life breath sends us out into the world. Is it possible that our being sent into the world, with God's very Spirit is the essence of the peace of Christ that He wills to give us? Is it in being Christ bearers in all the circumstances of life that we also experience Christ's peace? I wonder.

 

I will conclude with a story. The people in this story touched my life years ago. But their actions then continue to inform and question me today. I was serving in my first parish. It is a rural place. I was attempting to visit everyone who was part of that congregation. One afternoon I drove out to Carol's home. Carol was one of our musicians. She and her 3 year-old daughter, Jennifer, were "regulars" at church. I drove into their farm-yard, ran up the steps and rang the doorbell. Immediately Jennifer came running, her tiny feet racing. The instant she saw me her eyes became really big. Then, without speaking to me or letting me in she ran away shrieking at the top of her lungs – "Mommy, mommy, Mr. God is here!"

 

Eventually Carol came to the door. She said, "I just had to come and see who Mr. God might be!" For years I discounted Jennifer's description of that young Pastor being Mr. God as the exuberant simplicity of a 3 year old. But now nearly 30 years later I wonder who it is that is simple?

 

Is it possible that Christ says to all of us, "As the Father has sent me so I send you?" We do believe that miraculously, in some way beyond our understanding, that God has given us God's own Spirit.  We go then, not because we are God, but because we are to bear the One the Gospel of John refers to as the Word of God, Jesus the Christ. As we go seeking to trust and follow Him, we are promised that we will be empowered by His Spirit. It is possible that by God's amazing grace others may actually somehow glimpse Him through us. And if that occurs, WELL THANKS BE TO GOD!

 

This morning from the very middle of our lives, ouR joys and struggles, our hopes and despair, our fear and courage, may we with Thomas be moved to confess both with our lips and with our deeds that Jesus is  "My Lord and my God".

 

Amazingly, Christ is risen! As he comes through the locked doors of our lives we can with Thomas be moved to live such a confession. Amen.