Defending the Doubter
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Sermon
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For April 8, 2018:
Defending the Doubter
by Tom Willadsen
John 20:19-31
Shortly after I was born, my mother had second thoughts about naming me Thomas. There’s Peeping Tom; Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son; Tom Turkey; and Doubting Thomas. Later she thought of Thomas Edison and Thomas Jefferson, but in her first days with me she had some reservations about the name she had given me. I suppose I’ve always been a little protective, if not defensive, about being named Thomas. I’ve gone by “Tom” as long as I can remember. Fortunately my family resisted using “Tommy” when I was young. We stuck with one, plain syllable. Even in Morse code it’s just six dashes. The name Tom is solid, and unspectacular. It’s a name that sort of blends in, without grabbing attention. And back in the day it was fairly common. I’ve been “Tom W.” since 1969. This distinguished me from Tom R. We hit our peak though, when I was in third grade in 1973. That class of 30 contained three Tom’s, three Tammy’s, three Tim’s, two Todd’s and both a male and female Tracy. (Mrs. Miller retired after that year.) This is all a long way of saying I know what it is to be Tom.
There are two contexts in which I become “Thomas:” on official, legal forms and in Denmark. The Danish sound “tom” means “empty,” it’s an insult that implies one is empty-headed. Still, I am always on alert when I hear “Thomas,” even when it’s used with the best of intentions.
And I’m sensitive of being called, “The Doubter.” After Judas, is there another disciple with a bad reputation? Oh sure, Peter’s impulsive, but he also got, “On this rock I will build my church.” Thomas, the Twin, is only recognized for doubting, which is, I believe, inaccurate. Furthermore, Thomas’s “doubt” should be regarded as a strength, an asset, even a gift.
First, the backstory: Remember Maundy Thursday? Jesus was sharing the Passover Seder with his disciples. He was giving them some last minute guidance and instruction, preparing them for his absence. He started by washing their feet, serving them humbly. He’s helping them to really feel what it is to be loved and served. Peter, the impulsive one, protests. Such service from Jesus, is too degrading, he believes. When Jesus says, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” [John 13:8b, NRSV], Peter wants a complete top to bottom bath. Jesus told him to lighten up. (That’s from the yet-to-be-published Book of Tom version.)
Then Jesus explained what it means to serve and be served. Jesus got a little long-winded at this point. My red letter version shows Jesus talked nearly non-stop from the last half of John 13 through John 17. He had a lot to say. He was preparing them as best he could. Early in this discourse he reassured the disciples that he was preparing a place for them, there were plenty of open units in Dad’s condo development (Book of Tom, again) and that he would come back and lead them there himself. They knew how to get there.
But Thomas raises his hand and says, “We do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?” [John 14:5]
Imagine you’re in a class in college. There’s a student who has taken a few years off from school to travel and live before working toward his bachelor’s degree. He sits in the front row and insists on understanding everything. He comes to class fully prepared and is ready to challenge the professor at every moment. He’s humble enough to admit that he doesn’t understand something. He wants to, desperately needs to, understand what the professor is teaching. He is bold enough to ask. He is humble enough to listen.
I’ve had this guy in my class. He makes me a better teacher. After a few interruptions his more attentive classmates recognize he’s asking the questions they would ask if he didn’t ask them first.
In response to Thomas’s interruption, Jesus responded with a clear, elegant, easily memorized sentence, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Nine words that Christians have been reciting for nearly 2,000 years. Thomas is Christianity’s original nudge. (Google it, trust me.) [I prefer “nudge” to “noodge,” but you’ll have to call on your own Yiddish to decide for yourselves.] (Sometimes I’m in parenthesis, like that annoying editor who appears in John’s gospel to explain stuff.) [But I can stop.] {Brackets are sort of like parenthesis.}
Ok, so now you know Thomas’s role and identity. Like the rest of the lot, he abandoned Jesus the next day, after Jesus was arrested and “tried.” He slept in Sunday morning. His kid had lacrosse practice that first Sunday evening, so he was not with the disciples in the locked house when Jesus appeared and breathed the Holy Spirit on to them.
Later that week, some of his pals, (I’m thinking Philip and Bartholomew; let’s pull those guys into the story) told Thomas that they had seen Jesus. Thomas is from Missouri, he has to see Jesus’ wounds for himself before he will believe what they said.
The next Sunday lacrosse practice was rained out and Thomas was in the same locked house with the other eleven. Jesus appeared again, by-passing the locked door, and showed his wounds to Thomas, saying, “Do not doubt, but believe.” [20:27]
Thomas got it. “My Lord and my God!” he says.
Thomas had insisted on seeing for himself that Jesus had come back. It’s unfortunate that I need to make this clear, but when Thomas saw a new fact, he changed his mind. There are certain figures in the news now who do not let facts change their opinions. Even facts they can see with their own eyes. To say that Thomas is a better student than our current Commander-in-Chief is a little like saying he’s the world’s tallest midget, but still…
In response to Thomas, Jesus reached out from the text to modern readers. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” [20:29]
[I’m showing this from the video for “Take on Me,” by A-ha, that I used in my Easter sermon. For those of you not of the MTV generation, MTV used to show 3-5 minute videos of popular songs. The video from which this shot is taken has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song, but the image of the hand reaching out of the table to the girl connected with me.]
Wouldn’t that be, oh, every Christian since about 34 CE? All we have is the testimony of those who saw the risen Christ as recorded in scripture. The testimony and the feeling of faith or conviction, comfort, certainty or trust that these words are true. That we ourselves have somehow experienced the risen Christ without the benefit of seeing with our own eyes.
Remember who the disciples were, a dozen fairly ordinary men, laborers, fishermen, maybe a white collar tax collector or two. No one powerful, rich, prominent or well-educated. These are the guys who had a front row seat at things like feeding the 5,000; then a week or so later, feeding the 4,000; the raising of Lazarus; exorcisms; “Little girl, get up!”; ten lepers made free of leprosy and thus rendered clean and restorable to society; a blind man seeing… These guys were at Jesus’ elbow when all of these things took place, and still faith was hard for them.
Who are we to expect it will come easily to us?
Now let me flip Thomas around. How would the story, our story, be different if the conversation had gone like this, “The other disciples told Thomas, ‘We have seen the Lord’ and Thomas replied, ‘Excellent, that’s good enough for me!”? His faith would be borrowed, lazy, inauthentic, second hand. He’d follow Christ by proxy, as though that would be enough.
Thomas insisted on forming his own opinion; it was his faith, and he wouldn’t let anyone else believe on his behalf or in his place. The other disciples weren’t suggesting a movie that Thomas might enjoy on Netflix. They were talking about the Son of God, the Savior of Humankind coming back from death, forgiving those who abandoned him.
Thomas had to be skeptical -- the stakes were too high not to be.
Oh, and one final thought: the opposite of faith is not doubt; the opposite of faith is certainty. Pick up this tidbit from late in Luke’s gospel, after Jesus appeared to Cleopas and the other guy, and they returned to Jerusalem and Jesus appeared among them, “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering…” [Luke 24:41]
Don’t stop disbelieving, (I FORBID YOU TO MAKE A JOURNEY REFERENCE AT THIS POINT!) wondering, feeling terror and joy…If you’re going to put your faith in Christ, you’ve got to be prepared for powerful emotions that will terrify you. There isn’t any other way.
Thomas didn’t say, “Oh, he’s not dead? Cool. Who wants to order some carry out?”
He said, “My Lord, and my God.” He got it, because he insisted on making the faith his own. Ok, now go name your next child Thomas. My work is finished here.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
John 20:19-31
Church history professor Kate Bowler studies the Prosperity Gospel, a system of beliefs far from her Mennonite upbringing. We think it’s all about shiny cars and big houses, but she understands this version of the gospel to be a search for meaning in the face of life’s setbacks. This came into sharp relief for her when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer in her mid-30’s. Bowler explains that the Prosperity Gospel isn’t just about finding God’s favor in material ways, although it comes across that way from television preachers. “The prosperity gospel tries to solve the riddle of human suffering. It is an explanation for the problem of evil. It provides an answer to the question: Why me? For years I sat with prosperity churchgoers and asked them about how they drew conclusions about the good and the bad in their lives. Does God want you to get that promotion? Tell me what it’s like to believe in healing from that hospital bed. What do you hear God saying when it all falls apart? The prosperity gospel popularized a Christian explanation for why some people make it and some do not. They revolutionized prayer as an instrument for getting God always to say “yes.” It offers people a guarantee: Follow these rules, and God will reward you, heal you, restore you.”
Bowler notes that “blessed” is one of the key terms used by people who trust in the Prosperity Gospel’s system of beliefs. The scriptures for this second week of the Easter season take up a different version of being blessed. If Easter seems to be over, if we forget that it’s a season instead of a day, the scriptures offer us a longer lasting, more down-to-earth version of God’s Easter triumph. They show us what Easter looks like, translated into our lives.
In Acts, the early followers of Jesus are so united in their faith that they can share their possessions, making sure that everyone is taken care of. The people who have material wealth aren’t struggling to hold onto it, and the people who need more support aren’t forced to beg for it. Their situation echoes the Psalmist’s praise, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Perhaps it’s noteworthy because it’s so rare!
The fearful disciples begin this Easter evening story, told by John, as a community united in their panic. Jesus appears in their midst with a shared gift, speaking a word of peace. He doesn’t seem to be promising wealth, or even safety -- he comes to give the gift of the Holy Spirit, and to challenge them to move out into the world with their faith. Thomas comes back and wants what they all have had -- a personal experience of Jesus’ presence. One has to wonder what happened in the week between Jesus’ two appearances. Do the disciples venture out, full of the gift of Jesus’ peace? Do they wait for Thomas’ noted courage to take hold? Does Thomas quiz the other disciples all week long about what happened, storing away every detail? He doesn’t have any expectation that Jesus will come a second time, so what does he do with his week?
If we’re ever tempted to think that God rewards God’s beloved people with winning lottery tickets and Land Rovers, these texts remind us what God really doles out to the people who love God. We get the gift of community, united around God’s purposes. We get the touch of the Holy Spirit, and a challenge to use it as a way to reach out to the world around us.
Her experience of cancer made Kate Bowler realize how alone we are when something awful happens in our lives. Her illness also reminds her how connected we are, when we reach out to each other. She is the grateful recipient of hugs, prayers, cards and notes. “These little things…..they are the cure. They are the cure to loneliness. They are the cure to self-pity. They are the cure to boredom and exhaustion. These are the little whispers: youareloved, youareloved, youareloved. I can feel it in moments of divine closeness when God seems to say, I am here. And I can feel it when I open my mailbox and my sister in Toronto has sent me brown eyeliner. She KNEW I needed brown eyeliner.” Even if we think we want cars, and mansions, and vacations, what we get instead is the daily presence of God, reflected through the imperfectly gorgeous actions of the people around us. Even if we think God should be giving us some certainty about life’s sorrows, what we get instead is the gift of community. There is no formula -- there is only this certainty. In every moment with a wise friend, a hilarious colleague, or a generous neighbor, we get a whisper of God, and the cure for our doubts.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Proclamation
An extensive study has found that the first thing people eat -- both children and adults -- from an Easter chocolate bunny are the ears. Could we use this as a symbolic gesture that the week after the great Easter worship celebration people soon stop listening to the Easter message?
Application: Proclaiming the gospel message is a central theme in our lectionary readings. Let us be sure that people continue to listen to the Easter message.
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Belief / Proclamation
The 1969 movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was a very popular movie due mostly to its two leading actors, Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Though the movie depicted them as rather benign and humorous characters, the real Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid were violent and ruthless. Butch Cassidy began his criminal career in 1880, and the Sundance Kid began his criminal career in 1887. Their crime spree finally came to an end with a shootout in 1908, when they were both killed. The reason it took so many years to capture the duo is because no one knew what they looked like. This means they could easily enter any town unnoticed, commit a bank robbery, and then leave. What caused their demise was on September 19, 1900, the two, along with their gang, known as the Wild Bunch, posed for a group photograph in Fort Worth, Texas. The photograph became known as the “Fort Worth Five.” With that photograph Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid lost their anonymity, and now law enforcement had a picture of whom they were seeking. As the photograph was posted in towns across the Southwest, the Wild Bunch could no longer boldly ride into town undetected. With the photograph being so widely distributed, it forced Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid to leave the country and escape to South America in 1905.
Application: We will never have a photograph or even a drawing of Jesus. We will never have any physical evidence that he waked the hills of Palestine. But, what we do have, is the eyewitness testimony of those who saw him and came to believe in him. It is their belief that becomes our belief. It is their testimony that becomes our testimony.
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Forgiveness
Most of us have become enthralled by Hollywood’s gladiator movies. Can any of us forget the epic adventure of the 2000 movie Gladiator staring Russell Crowe, who played Maximus Decimus Meridius? And as we watch the combat we moved with every swipe of the sword and every jab of the spear and every toss of the net. And as one fighter falls to the dust, we wait for the crowd in the colosseum to give the thumbs up to let the fallen victim live, or the thumbs down for the victor to destroy the vanquished. Then, along with Maximus Decimus Meridius, we look to where Cesar is seated for the final judgment. This is good Hollywood, but it is bad history. In Rome a thumbs up meant that one is to kill the fallen opponent. The upward gesture of the thumb indicated driving the sword upward through the rib cage into the heart. If Caser gave a thumb down, it meant the victor is to place his sword on the ground and let his opponent live.
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is forgiveness. Let us be sure that we are a thumb down Christian.
*****
Holy Spirit
In the newspaper comic Peanuts by Charles Schulz, we have the recurring theme of Charlie Brown trying to fly his kite each spring. In most cases, to Charlie’s discouragement, the kite lands in a tree and that is the end of his day’s activities. But, each spring, he keeps trying. In this episode, drawn by Schultz, we have Charlie holding the string of his kite that is finally but tenuously airborne. With great encouragement, as we see in frame after frame, we see Charlie yelling “Fly, Kite” “Fly!” The he screams “FLY!” In the next scene the kite comes crashing to the ground. We then see Charlie standing over his broken dream saying, “All right, then…Don’t!”
Application: We all face discouragements in life and it is the power of the Holy Spirit that keeps us going.
*****
Proclamation / Testimony / Witnesses
Shepard Smith is the chief news anchor for Fox News. Smith recently created controversy when he said most of what viewers see on cable news is “entertainment.” Smith said cable news has no rules for reporting the news accurately. Smith said of those who sit singularly or in groups around the news table, “They can say whatever they want -- if it’s their opinion.” Smith said they “sit around and yell at each other and talk about your philosophy and my philosophy.” What we have, according to Smith, is uninformed banter between those posing as journalists. It is according to Smith no more than opinion programing. Yet, the most watched news cable program is Rachel Maddow, with 3.42 million viewers.
Application: The Easter story we have in the gospels is not entertainment news. The Easter story we have in the gospels is not opinion. The Easter story we have in the gospels is authentic news.
*****
Hope
The seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson is mired in a career worst 28-race losing streak. His losing streak began in Dover, Delaware last June. The driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro in the last five races has just finished once in the top ten. His next race will be at the short track in Martinsville, Virginia, where he has had nine victories. Johnson said of himself and the Hendrick Motorsports racing team, “I am very optimistic that success is out there in front of us and around the corner.”
Application: The Easter message is a message of optimism and hope.
*****
Discipleship
Redouane Lakdim was a 25-year-old Moroccan who lived in Trebes, France. Lakdim also was a member of ISIS. At about 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 24, he entered the Super U supermarket armed with a handgun, a hunting knife, and three homemade bombs. He shot two people dead and took others as hostages. The police were unable to negotiate the release of the hostages. So, Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame negotiated an agreement with Lakdim to exchange himself for a female hostage. Surrendering his weapon Beltrame entered the store, but he kept his cell phone open so the police outside of the Super U could monitor the situation. After a three-hour stand-off, the terrorist stabbed and shot Beltrame. In response, the police stormed the supermarket at 2:40 p.m. and killed the assailant. An autopsy revealed that Beltrame had sustained four bullet wounds but died from stab wounds to the throat The French Roman Catholic weekly newspaper Familie Chretienne wrote this of Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame: “It turns out that the lieutenant-colonel was a practicing Catholic. The fact is that he did not hide his faith, and that he shone, he testified. We can say that his act of offering is consistent with what he believed. He went to the end of his service to the country and to the end of his testimony of faith. To believe is not only to adhere to a doctrine. It is first to love God and his neighbor, and to testify of his faith concretely in everyday life. In the happy or unhappy, even dramatic circumstances of our lives.”
Application: Jesus sent his disciples, as he sends us today, to serve others.
*****
Proclamation / Discipleship
The March for Our Lives took place on Saturday, March 24, and continues to be a newsworthy story. The march was organized by the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. A 19-year-old former student with an AK-15 semi-automatic assault rifle killed 17 students and faculty members. From that tragedy the students organized the March for Our Lives. Doug Hogg, a 17-year-old senior at the school, has become one of the school’s unofficial spokespersons. At the Washington, D.C., rally Hogg told the multitudes gathered before him, “If you listen real close, you can hear the people in power shaking. We will get rid of those public servants who only care about the gun lobby.”
Application: We are sent by Jesus so that through both our word and our actions we can bring about social justice.
*****
Proclamation / Discipleship / Holy Spirit
The early church fathers believed in the power of Satan. One of the best descriptions of Satan is recorded for us in a sermon preached by Origen. Origen was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and lived from the year 185 to the year 254. He is considered by some the first theologian of stature in the church. He wrote a sermon on almost every verse in the entire Bible. Origen preached that the Christian life is a struggle against the Devil’s “fiery darts” and “nets.”
Application: “Fiery darts” and “nets” is a good description on how the Devil tries to entrap us. The message of the Resurrection and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit will allow us to combat the “fiery darts” and “nets” of Satan.
*****
Proclamation / Discipleship / Holy Spirit
In the movie The Devil’s Advocate (1997) Kevin Lomax, who is played by Keanu Reeves, is a defense lawyer who specializes in jury selection. Even though he is appalled by the actions of his clients and allows witnesses to lie on the stand, he is driven, not by justice, but by a motivation to always win. Realizing his success, John Milton, who is played by Al Pacino, the senior partner in a New York City law firm, entices Lomax to relocate to the city with a huge financial package with many perks attached to it. Lomax’s wife, Mary Ann, who is played by Charlize Theron, is at first excited about the opportunities that the Big Apple has to offer; but, she slowly becomes disillusioned and desires to return home to Gainesville, Florida. Her husband refuses, because he is riveted by the big cases he is assigned and his ability to continue to win. As the movie progresses, and after Mary Ann suffers many personal disappointments and tragedies, causing her to commit suicide, the audience learns that John Milton is Satan. In the closing scene Lomax and Milton have a violent confrontation when Lomax learns who the senior partner really is. In the exchange of dialogue Milton says that the greatest sin he uses is “vanity.” Even though he is Satan, he cannot overcome free will. But what he can do is create situations where the vanity of an individual empowers them to do wrong. Milton says in the movie, “Vanity, definitely my favorite sin.” Realizing this, Milton says all that he has to do is “set the stage,” and an individual’s vanity, a desire for success and notoriety, will lead an individual to personal destruction. In the case of Lomax, vanity caused him to forsake the intimacy that Mary Ann craved so he could continue a winning law practice.
Application: Empowered by the Holy Spirit and the gospel message, we are to subdue Satan.
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Playing Second Fiddle
I have a musical ear. It’s a gift that I did nothing to earn but that I try to cultivate with practice. I can play about a dozen musical instruments well enough to have fun and there are few things I enjoy more than back porch jam sessions where a bunch of us get together and play music, mostly by ear, for our own enjoyment and the enjoyment of those who gather around to listen or sing along.
Several years ago, having taught myself to play the guitar, banjo, and mandolin, I decided to try my luck at the fiddle. I discovered that it is tuned exactly like the mandolin and many of the same principles apply to both instruments. I spent a couple of months learning and practicing some rudimentary skills and then took my fiddle to a music festival where I heard that there were lots of jam sessions going on and beginners were welcome.
What I quickly discovered was that I could not keep up with the fiddle players who played that instrument only and had never played anything else. They were well practiced and their skills were honed on years and years of experience. They hit every note perfectly.
What I also discovered, however, was that there was much joy to be had in playing second fiddle. First fiddle plays the melody, you see. And when you play the melody there’s only one note that is right and you must play it.
Second fiddle plays harmony and harmony allows that there are any number of notes that will sound good with the one note that the melody must play. Second fiddle may not get all the glory, the ooh’s and the ah’s that first fiddle gets, but we have much more latitude in what we can play and still sound good.
We add depth and breadth to the sound of the band, we make music, and we have just as much fun as everyone else, just playing second fiddle.
Perhaps that’s why “playing second fiddle” is such a common metaphor when we talk about community effort and community building. It’s not very glamorous but it is essential. And it can be fun.
*****
The Opposite of Community
Dr. John T. Cacioppo Ph.D., writing for Psychology Today about how human beings experience loneliness, says: “Talent, financial success, fame, even adoration, offers no protection from the subjective experience [of loneliness]. Janis Joplin, who was as shy and withdrawn off stage as she was raucous and explosive on, said shortly before her death that she was working on a tune called, ‘I just made love to 25,000 people, but I'm going home alone.’ Three of the most idolized women of the twentieth century, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, and Princess Diana, were famously lonely people. And yet a fourth, Gretta Garbo, was famous for saying ‘I vant to be alone.’ Which serves to remind us that there is nothing inherently problematic about solitude in and of itself. Loneliness isn't about being alone, it's about not feeling connected.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/connections/200905/epidemic-loneliness
*****
The Opposite of Community 2.0
Psychologist John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago has been tracking the effects of loneliness. He performed a series of novel studies and reported that loneliness works in some surprising ways to compromise health.
In other words, we are built for social contact. There are serious -- life-threatening -- consequences when we don't get enough. We can't stay on track mentally. And we are compromised physically. Social skills are crucial for your health.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200307/the-dangers-loneliness
*****
Monkey Business in Monkey Communities
Scientists have observed that when monkeys learn that attempting to reach a banana results in a negative consequence imposed by someone more powerful, they stop trying to reach the banana. If one of the original monkeys leaves the group and a new monkey replaces him, she will be attacked by the remaining original monkeys when she spies the banana and tries to get it. She doesn't know why she is attacked, and she doesn't know about the original consequence.
When another monkey from the original group leaves and is replaced by yet a second new monkey, the same thing happens. The first new monkey participates in the attack on the second new monkey. Neither of the new monkeys experienced the powerful entity's initial punishment, and they were attacked by the original monkeys remaining in the group.
As this process moves forward, eventually none of the original monkeys remain in the group, but none of the new monkeys tries to get the banana. Each new monkey learns that its counterparts don't try to get the reward, because that's the way it has always been.
We see this phenomenon happening in all sorts of human communities -- businesses, clubs, schools, churches.
We do something or don’t do something simply becaue that’s always been the way we do or don’t do it. Often, we have forgotten the “why” and simply rely on the “what.” When new members enter the community and try to initiate new behaviors they are shouted or beaten down by the majority becaue the old behavior has become indelibly ingrained.
*****
A Harvest of Love
My first experience as a pastor was in a two-point circuit in rural Ohio. The churches were only about two miles apart but one was a former Methodist Episcopal and the other was a former Methodist Protestant and their histories and traditions were so different that, even though they all knew each other, they could not bring themselves to worship together.
About eighteen months into my ministry, on a rainy October night, two little girls from one of the churches were murdered, killed by their uncle in an Angel Dust induced, hallucination driven frenzy. In forty years of ministry I would never experience anything to rival the way that incident taxed my pastoral skills.
But, even in the midst of all that horror and grief, I saw things that inspired and revived me.
The family of those little victims all lived relatively close to each other and were all farmers. One day, not long after the double funeral, I was visiting with the parents, having a cup of coffee with them in their kitchen, when we were interrupted by a pounding on the door and a loud racket of engines and farm vehicles and implements driving into the barn lot between the house and the barn.
Ed, the father, went to the door, spoke to someone, and came back to the table. He sat and shook his head and took his wife’s hand in his. “They’re going to harvest the corn,” he said. “They’re all here and they’re going to do it all in one day. He said they would be back to do the beans next week. He said we weren’t to worry about anything.”
We all sat there, staring into our coffee, trying to hold back our tears. There was another knock at the door. Ed got up to go answer it again and came back in a moment with another man I had not met. He held his hat in his hands and looked at me.
“Reverend, we noticed your car out there, so we knew you were here and wondered if you’d be willing to come out and start off the day’s work with a prayer for us.”
Would I be willing? Oh, you bet I would.
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!
People: We rejoice in the communion God brings to us.
Leader: It is like the precious oil of anointing and blessing.
People: We are blessed, indeed, with God’s unity among us.
Leader: It is like the dew of Hermon where God set out a blessing.
People: Let us give thanks to God who draws us together.
OR
Leader: Join in the worship of our Triune God.
People: We praise the unity of God in the midst of God’s diversity.
Leader: Embrace those around you who are God’s children.
People: We enclose one another in the fold of God’s love.
Leader: Seek out the lost and alone and bring them within the fold.
People: As God sought us, so we will seek others.
Hymns and Songs:
“All Creatures of Our God and King”
UMH: 62
H82: 400
PH: 455
AAHH: 147
NNBH: 33
NCH: 17
CH: 22
LBW: 527
ELA: 835
W&P: 23
AMEC: 50
STLT: 203
Renew: 47
“Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain”
UMH: 315
H82: 199/200
PH: 114/115
NCH: 230
CH: 215
LBW: 132
ELA: 363
“Where Charity and Love Prevail”
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELA: 359
“Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation”
UMH: 559
H82: 518
PH: 416/417
NCH: 400
CH: 275
LBW: 367
ELA: 645
AMEC: 518
“Let There Be Peace on Earth”
UMH: 431
CH: 677
W&P: 614
“Come, We That Love the Lord / Marching to Zion”
UMH: 732/733
H82: 392
AAHH: 590
NNBH: 367
NCH: 379/382
CH: 707
ELA: 625
W&P: 67
AMEC: 50
“Sent Forth by God’s Blessing”
UMH: 664
NCH: 76
LBW: 221
ELA: 547
W&P: 712
Renew: 307
“One Bread, One Body (Communion)”
UMH: 620
CH: 393
ELA: 496
W&P: 689
CCB: 49
“Unity”
CCB: 59
“As We Gather”
CCB: 12
Renew: 6
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
ELA: 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 community within your own self:
Grant us the grace to open ourselves to your unity
so that we may dwell together in peace and love;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We bless your name, O God, for the unity and diversity of your own self. As we worship you as a community within yourself, help us to open ourselves to you so that we may be part of that community. Then help us to recreate that unity with others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially love affair with individualism.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us to be in communion with you and with another. Jesus prayed that we might be one even as he was one with you. Yet we have failed to embrace ourselves as a community. We prefer to do things as individuals or as very small groups. We fail to see others as your children and, therefore, as our sisters and brothers. We look for division where we should be looking for togetherness. Forgive us and draw us closer to you so that we might draw closer to one another and all your children. Amen.
Leader: God desires nothing more than to embrace all of us into the divine reality of love. Receive God’s love and grace and use that power to embrace the world.
Prayers of the People
We praise and adore you, O God, the three in one. You dwell in perfect unity within yourself and seek to extend that to all creation.
(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. You have created us to be in communion with you and with another. Jesus prayed that we might be one even as he was one with you. Yet we have failed to embrace ourselves as a community. We prefer to do things as individuals or as very small groups. We fail to see others as your children and, therefore, as our sisters and brothers. We look for division where we should be looking for togetherness. Forgive us and draw us closer to you so that we might draw closer to one another and all your children.
We give you thanks for those who love us and care for us as the embrace us in love. We thank you for the communities that make a place for us. We thank you for your Church which sought us and seeks to bring all your children into its loving embrace.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for your children in need. We pray for those who find themselves alone and separated from others. We pray for those who are shunned and cast out from those who should be loving them.
(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 Starter Have two long dowels and a softball. Place the softball between the dowels and ask a child to lift the ball and carry it a few feet away. Have all the children who wish to try. Few, if any, will be able to do it. Now ask them to work in pairs. It is much easier to do it this way. God gives us each other to help one another. Some things we can do alone but they are much easier and more fun when we work together. That is what the Church is (at one level) a group of people with Jesus who help each other and help each other help the world.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Thomas’ FAQ (Faithfully Asked Questions)
by Chris Keating
John 20:19-31
Prepare in Advance -- Optional handout -- Ahead of Sunday, prepare a handout that can be shared with the children. At the top of the page, write “Faithfully Asking Questions.” Then write these questions, making sure to leave space for children to write down answers. This is an intergenerational activity that invites sharing between adults and children. (Note: it is important to follow your church’s children’s safety policies during any intergenerational activity, which could mean that parents should accompany their children when talking with adults.)
Who? (the name of the person)
Where did they go to church as a child?
Why is going to church important to them?
When did they start attending this church?
What one question would they ask God?
As Tom Willadsen points out in his main article, the Apostle Thomas has frequently been maligned throughout history as a dim-witted “doubter” who somehow did not have sufficient faith to believe in Jesus’ resurrection. As Tom discusses, Thomas is more than just a one-dimensional character. Fred Craddock, in his commentary on John, suggests something similar. John’s resurrection narrative shows the Beloved disciple believing because he sees the empty tomb, while Mary believes because she hears Jesus call her by name. Thomas believes because he saw Jesus. (Craddock, “John,” Westminster/John Knox Press, 1982, p. 142.) The point, of course, is that each of us comes to faith differently.
The Thomas story offers a wonderful opportunity to remind children that asking questions is an important part of being faithful. We might say that instead of calling him “doubting” Thomas, we should instead call him Curious Thomas. He has lots and lots of questions for Jesus -- he wants to see his wounds, for example, no doubt because he wonders how someone could be crucified, yet resurrected. This story is about Thomas’ “F.A.Q’s,” or “faithfully asked questions.”
Questions are an important part of faith. Learning how to ask the right sort of questions is also important. Help the children understand that there are many types of asking questions. Some questions have simple answers: “Where is the restroom?” Other questions require longer answers. Thomas asked puzzling questions, but that was because he wanted to learn more about Jesus. Asking questions is one of the ways we can grow in our understanding of God.
We have lots of questions we’d like to ask Jesus. Thomas’ encounter with the risen Lord reminds us that asking questions is one of the ways people come to faith. Just as we ask questions in school, we ask questions about faith in order to learn more. Thomas wasn’t a bad disciple; in many ways, he was fulfilling the role God had called him to pursue.
Some religious traditions use catechisms, or sets of theological questions, to help children grow. Two examples include the catechism for young children from The Reformed Church, the Study Catechism from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Catechisms are another way of learning how to ask questions. If your church uses these tools, today might be a good day to introduce them.
Another option of helping children ask questions would be to spend a few moments asking the congregation to share their questions for God. These can be the source of upcoming sermons. The children could help write down the questions and they could be posted on bulletin boards in the church. Inviting the children to become reporters who gather information from church members using the questions on the “Faithfully Asking Questions” handout is another way of helping them understand the importance of a faith that is always seeking to learn more.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, April 8, 2018, issue.
Copyright 2018 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.
- Defending the Doubter by Tom Willadsen -- Tom examines how Thomas has been maligned over the centuries. Reclaiming him from the role of doubter to earnest, inquisitive disciple helps understand the importance he plays in the Christian community.
- Second Thoughts by Mary Austin -- Mary looks at the various ways the lessons promote the power of community.
- Sermon illustrations by Ron Love and Dean Feldmeyer.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on community -- including the communion of the Trinity.
- Thomas’ FAQ (Faithfully Asked Questions) -- Children's sermon by Chris Keating.
Defending the Doubter
by Tom Willadsen
John 20:19-31
Shortly after I was born, my mother had second thoughts about naming me Thomas. There’s Peeping Tom; Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son; Tom Turkey; and Doubting Thomas. Later she thought of Thomas Edison and Thomas Jefferson, but in her first days with me she had some reservations about the name she had given me. I suppose I’ve always been a little protective, if not defensive, about being named Thomas. I’ve gone by “Tom” as long as I can remember. Fortunately my family resisted using “Tommy” when I was young. We stuck with one, plain syllable. Even in Morse code it’s just six dashes. The name Tom is solid, and unspectacular. It’s a name that sort of blends in, without grabbing attention. And back in the day it was fairly common. I’ve been “Tom W.” since 1969. This distinguished me from Tom R. We hit our peak though, when I was in third grade in 1973. That class of 30 contained three Tom’s, three Tammy’s, three Tim’s, two Todd’s and both a male and female Tracy. (Mrs. Miller retired after that year.) This is all a long way of saying I know what it is to be Tom.
There are two contexts in which I become “Thomas:” on official, legal forms and in Denmark. The Danish sound “tom” means “empty,” it’s an insult that implies one is empty-headed. Still, I am always on alert when I hear “Thomas,” even when it’s used with the best of intentions.
And I’m sensitive of being called, “The Doubter.” After Judas, is there another disciple with a bad reputation? Oh sure, Peter’s impulsive, but he also got, “On this rock I will build my church.” Thomas, the Twin, is only recognized for doubting, which is, I believe, inaccurate. Furthermore, Thomas’s “doubt” should be regarded as a strength, an asset, even a gift.
First, the backstory: Remember Maundy Thursday? Jesus was sharing the Passover Seder with his disciples. He was giving them some last minute guidance and instruction, preparing them for his absence. He started by washing their feet, serving them humbly. He’s helping them to really feel what it is to be loved and served. Peter, the impulsive one, protests. Such service from Jesus, is too degrading, he believes. When Jesus says, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” [John 13:8b, NRSV], Peter wants a complete top to bottom bath. Jesus told him to lighten up. (That’s from the yet-to-be-published Book of Tom version.)
Then Jesus explained what it means to serve and be served. Jesus got a little long-winded at this point. My red letter version shows Jesus talked nearly non-stop from the last half of John 13 through John 17. He had a lot to say. He was preparing them as best he could. Early in this discourse he reassured the disciples that he was preparing a place for them, there were plenty of open units in Dad’s condo development (Book of Tom, again) and that he would come back and lead them there himself. They knew how to get there.
But Thomas raises his hand and says, “We do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?” [John 14:5]
Imagine you’re in a class in college. There’s a student who has taken a few years off from school to travel and live before working toward his bachelor’s degree. He sits in the front row and insists on understanding everything. He comes to class fully prepared and is ready to challenge the professor at every moment. He’s humble enough to admit that he doesn’t understand something. He wants to, desperately needs to, understand what the professor is teaching. He is bold enough to ask. He is humble enough to listen.
I’ve had this guy in my class. He makes me a better teacher. After a few interruptions his more attentive classmates recognize he’s asking the questions they would ask if he didn’t ask them first.
In response to Thomas’s interruption, Jesus responded with a clear, elegant, easily memorized sentence, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Nine words that Christians have been reciting for nearly 2,000 years. Thomas is Christianity’s original nudge. (Google it, trust me.) [I prefer “nudge” to “noodge,” but you’ll have to call on your own Yiddish to decide for yourselves.] (Sometimes I’m in parenthesis, like that annoying editor who appears in John’s gospel to explain stuff.) [But I can stop.] {Brackets are sort of like parenthesis.}
Ok, so now you know Thomas’s role and identity. Like the rest of the lot, he abandoned Jesus the next day, after Jesus was arrested and “tried.” He slept in Sunday morning. His kid had lacrosse practice that first Sunday evening, so he was not with the disciples in the locked house when Jesus appeared and breathed the Holy Spirit on to them.
Later that week, some of his pals, (I’m thinking Philip and Bartholomew; let’s pull those guys into the story) told Thomas that they had seen Jesus. Thomas is from Missouri, he has to see Jesus’ wounds for himself before he will believe what they said.
The next Sunday lacrosse practice was rained out and Thomas was in the same locked house with the other eleven. Jesus appeared again, by-passing the locked door, and showed his wounds to Thomas, saying, “Do not doubt, but believe.” [20:27]
Thomas got it. “My Lord and my God!” he says.
Thomas had insisted on seeing for himself that Jesus had come back. It’s unfortunate that I need to make this clear, but when Thomas saw a new fact, he changed his mind. There are certain figures in the news now who do not let facts change their opinions. Even facts they can see with their own eyes. To say that Thomas is a better student than our current Commander-in-Chief is a little like saying he’s the world’s tallest midget, but still…
In response to Thomas, Jesus reached out from the text to modern readers. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” [20:29]
[I’m showing this from the video for “Take on Me,” by A-ha, that I used in my Easter sermon. For those of you not of the MTV generation, MTV used to show 3-5 minute videos of popular songs. The video from which this shot is taken has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song, but the image of the hand reaching out of the table to the girl connected with me.]
Wouldn’t that be, oh, every Christian since about 34 CE? All we have is the testimony of those who saw the risen Christ as recorded in scripture. The testimony and the feeling of faith or conviction, comfort, certainty or trust that these words are true. That we ourselves have somehow experienced the risen Christ without the benefit of seeing with our own eyes.
Remember who the disciples were, a dozen fairly ordinary men, laborers, fishermen, maybe a white collar tax collector or two. No one powerful, rich, prominent or well-educated. These are the guys who had a front row seat at things like feeding the 5,000; then a week or so later, feeding the 4,000; the raising of Lazarus; exorcisms; “Little girl, get up!”; ten lepers made free of leprosy and thus rendered clean and restorable to society; a blind man seeing… These guys were at Jesus’ elbow when all of these things took place, and still faith was hard for them.
Who are we to expect it will come easily to us?
Now let me flip Thomas around. How would the story, our story, be different if the conversation had gone like this, “The other disciples told Thomas, ‘We have seen the Lord’ and Thomas replied, ‘Excellent, that’s good enough for me!”? His faith would be borrowed, lazy, inauthentic, second hand. He’d follow Christ by proxy, as though that would be enough.
Thomas insisted on forming his own opinion; it was his faith, and he wouldn’t let anyone else believe on his behalf or in his place. The other disciples weren’t suggesting a movie that Thomas might enjoy on Netflix. They were talking about the Son of God, the Savior of Humankind coming back from death, forgiving those who abandoned him.
Thomas had to be skeptical -- the stakes were too high not to be.
Oh, and one final thought: the opposite of faith is not doubt; the opposite of faith is certainty. Pick up this tidbit from late in Luke’s gospel, after Jesus appeared to Cleopas and the other guy, and they returned to Jerusalem and Jesus appeared among them, “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering…” [Luke 24:41]
Don’t stop disbelieving, (I FORBID YOU TO MAKE A JOURNEY REFERENCE AT THIS POINT!) wondering, feeling terror and joy…If you’re going to put your faith in Christ, you’ve got to be prepared for powerful emotions that will terrify you. There isn’t any other way.
Thomas didn’t say, “Oh, he’s not dead? Cool. Who wants to order some carry out?”
He said, “My Lord, and my God.” He got it, because he insisted on making the faith his own. Ok, now go name your next child Thomas. My work is finished here.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
John 20:19-31
Church history professor Kate Bowler studies the Prosperity Gospel, a system of beliefs far from her Mennonite upbringing. We think it’s all about shiny cars and big houses, but she understands this version of the gospel to be a search for meaning in the face of life’s setbacks. This came into sharp relief for her when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer in her mid-30’s. Bowler explains that the Prosperity Gospel isn’t just about finding God’s favor in material ways, although it comes across that way from television preachers. “The prosperity gospel tries to solve the riddle of human suffering. It is an explanation for the problem of evil. It provides an answer to the question: Why me? For years I sat with prosperity churchgoers and asked them about how they drew conclusions about the good and the bad in their lives. Does God want you to get that promotion? Tell me what it’s like to believe in healing from that hospital bed. What do you hear God saying when it all falls apart? The prosperity gospel popularized a Christian explanation for why some people make it and some do not. They revolutionized prayer as an instrument for getting God always to say “yes.” It offers people a guarantee: Follow these rules, and God will reward you, heal you, restore you.”
Bowler notes that “blessed” is one of the key terms used by people who trust in the Prosperity Gospel’s system of beliefs. The scriptures for this second week of the Easter season take up a different version of being blessed. If Easter seems to be over, if we forget that it’s a season instead of a day, the scriptures offer us a longer lasting, more down-to-earth version of God’s Easter triumph. They show us what Easter looks like, translated into our lives.
In Acts, the early followers of Jesus are so united in their faith that they can share their possessions, making sure that everyone is taken care of. The people who have material wealth aren’t struggling to hold onto it, and the people who need more support aren’t forced to beg for it. Their situation echoes the Psalmist’s praise, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Perhaps it’s noteworthy because it’s so rare!
The fearful disciples begin this Easter evening story, told by John, as a community united in their panic. Jesus appears in their midst with a shared gift, speaking a word of peace. He doesn’t seem to be promising wealth, or even safety -- he comes to give the gift of the Holy Spirit, and to challenge them to move out into the world with their faith. Thomas comes back and wants what they all have had -- a personal experience of Jesus’ presence. One has to wonder what happened in the week between Jesus’ two appearances. Do the disciples venture out, full of the gift of Jesus’ peace? Do they wait for Thomas’ noted courage to take hold? Does Thomas quiz the other disciples all week long about what happened, storing away every detail? He doesn’t have any expectation that Jesus will come a second time, so what does he do with his week?
If we’re ever tempted to think that God rewards God’s beloved people with winning lottery tickets and Land Rovers, these texts remind us what God really doles out to the people who love God. We get the gift of community, united around God’s purposes. We get the touch of the Holy Spirit, and a challenge to use it as a way to reach out to the world around us.
Her experience of cancer made Kate Bowler realize how alone we are when something awful happens in our lives. Her illness also reminds her how connected we are, when we reach out to each other. She is the grateful recipient of hugs, prayers, cards and notes. “These little things…..they are the cure. They are the cure to loneliness. They are the cure to self-pity. They are the cure to boredom and exhaustion. These are the little whispers: youareloved, youareloved, youareloved. I can feel it in moments of divine closeness when God seems to say, I am here. And I can feel it when I open my mailbox and my sister in Toronto has sent me brown eyeliner. She KNEW I needed brown eyeliner.” Even if we think we want cars, and mansions, and vacations, what we get instead is the daily presence of God, reflected through the imperfectly gorgeous actions of the people around us. Even if we think God should be giving us some certainty about life’s sorrows, what we get instead is the gift of community. There is no formula -- there is only this certainty. In every moment with a wise friend, a hilarious colleague, or a generous neighbor, we get a whisper of God, and the cure for our doubts.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Proclamation
An extensive study has found that the first thing people eat -- both children and adults -- from an Easter chocolate bunny are the ears. Could we use this as a symbolic gesture that the week after the great Easter worship celebration people soon stop listening to the Easter message?
Application: Proclaiming the gospel message is a central theme in our lectionary readings. Let us be sure that people continue to listen to the Easter message.
*****
Belief / Proclamation
The 1969 movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was a very popular movie due mostly to its two leading actors, Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Though the movie depicted them as rather benign and humorous characters, the real Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid were violent and ruthless. Butch Cassidy began his criminal career in 1880, and the Sundance Kid began his criminal career in 1887. Their crime spree finally came to an end with a shootout in 1908, when they were both killed. The reason it took so many years to capture the duo is because no one knew what they looked like. This means they could easily enter any town unnoticed, commit a bank robbery, and then leave. What caused their demise was on September 19, 1900, the two, along with their gang, known as the Wild Bunch, posed for a group photograph in Fort Worth, Texas. The photograph became known as the “Fort Worth Five.” With that photograph Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid lost their anonymity, and now law enforcement had a picture of whom they were seeking. As the photograph was posted in towns across the Southwest, the Wild Bunch could no longer boldly ride into town undetected. With the photograph being so widely distributed, it forced Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid to leave the country and escape to South America in 1905.
Application: We will never have a photograph or even a drawing of Jesus. We will never have any physical evidence that he waked the hills of Palestine. But, what we do have, is the eyewitness testimony of those who saw him and came to believe in him. It is their belief that becomes our belief. It is their testimony that becomes our testimony.
*****
Forgiveness
Most of us have become enthralled by Hollywood’s gladiator movies. Can any of us forget the epic adventure of the 2000 movie Gladiator staring Russell Crowe, who played Maximus Decimus Meridius? And as we watch the combat we moved with every swipe of the sword and every jab of the spear and every toss of the net. And as one fighter falls to the dust, we wait for the crowd in the colosseum to give the thumbs up to let the fallen victim live, or the thumbs down for the victor to destroy the vanquished. Then, along with Maximus Decimus Meridius, we look to where Cesar is seated for the final judgment. This is good Hollywood, but it is bad history. In Rome a thumbs up meant that one is to kill the fallen opponent. The upward gesture of the thumb indicated driving the sword upward through the rib cage into the heart. If Caser gave a thumb down, it meant the victor is to place his sword on the ground and let his opponent live.
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is forgiveness. Let us be sure that we are a thumb down Christian.
*****
Holy Spirit
In the newspaper comic Peanuts by Charles Schulz, we have the recurring theme of Charlie Brown trying to fly his kite each spring. In most cases, to Charlie’s discouragement, the kite lands in a tree and that is the end of his day’s activities. But, each spring, he keeps trying. In this episode, drawn by Schultz, we have Charlie holding the string of his kite that is finally but tenuously airborne. With great encouragement, as we see in frame after frame, we see Charlie yelling “Fly, Kite” “Fly!” The he screams “FLY!” In the next scene the kite comes crashing to the ground. We then see Charlie standing over his broken dream saying, “All right, then…Don’t!”
Application: We all face discouragements in life and it is the power of the Holy Spirit that keeps us going.
*****
Proclamation / Testimony / Witnesses
Shepard Smith is the chief news anchor for Fox News. Smith recently created controversy when he said most of what viewers see on cable news is “entertainment.” Smith said cable news has no rules for reporting the news accurately. Smith said of those who sit singularly or in groups around the news table, “They can say whatever they want -- if it’s their opinion.” Smith said they “sit around and yell at each other and talk about your philosophy and my philosophy.” What we have, according to Smith, is uninformed banter between those posing as journalists. It is according to Smith no more than opinion programing. Yet, the most watched news cable program is Rachel Maddow, with 3.42 million viewers.
Application: The Easter story we have in the gospels is not entertainment news. The Easter story we have in the gospels is not opinion. The Easter story we have in the gospels is authentic news.
*****
Hope
The seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson is mired in a career worst 28-race losing streak. His losing streak began in Dover, Delaware last June. The driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro in the last five races has just finished once in the top ten. His next race will be at the short track in Martinsville, Virginia, where he has had nine victories. Johnson said of himself and the Hendrick Motorsports racing team, “I am very optimistic that success is out there in front of us and around the corner.”
Application: The Easter message is a message of optimism and hope.
*****
Discipleship
Redouane Lakdim was a 25-year-old Moroccan who lived in Trebes, France. Lakdim also was a member of ISIS. At about 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 24, he entered the Super U supermarket armed with a handgun, a hunting knife, and three homemade bombs. He shot two people dead and took others as hostages. The police were unable to negotiate the release of the hostages. So, Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame negotiated an agreement with Lakdim to exchange himself for a female hostage. Surrendering his weapon Beltrame entered the store, but he kept his cell phone open so the police outside of the Super U could monitor the situation. After a three-hour stand-off, the terrorist stabbed and shot Beltrame. In response, the police stormed the supermarket at 2:40 p.m. and killed the assailant. An autopsy revealed that Beltrame had sustained four bullet wounds but died from stab wounds to the throat The French Roman Catholic weekly newspaper Familie Chretienne wrote this of Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame: “It turns out that the lieutenant-colonel was a practicing Catholic. The fact is that he did not hide his faith, and that he shone, he testified. We can say that his act of offering is consistent with what he believed. He went to the end of his service to the country and to the end of his testimony of faith. To believe is not only to adhere to a doctrine. It is first to love God and his neighbor, and to testify of his faith concretely in everyday life. In the happy or unhappy, even dramatic circumstances of our lives.”
Application: Jesus sent his disciples, as he sends us today, to serve others.
*****
Proclamation / Discipleship
The March for Our Lives took place on Saturday, March 24, and continues to be a newsworthy story. The march was organized by the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. A 19-year-old former student with an AK-15 semi-automatic assault rifle killed 17 students and faculty members. From that tragedy the students organized the March for Our Lives. Doug Hogg, a 17-year-old senior at the school, has become one of the school’s unofficial spokespersons. At the Washington, D.C., rally Hogg told the multitudes gathered before him, “If you listen real close, you can hear the people in power shaking. We will get rid of those public servants who only care about the gun lobby.”
Application: We are sent by Jesus so that through both our word and our actions we can bring about social justice.
*****
Proclamation / Discipleship / Holy Spirit
The early church fathers believed in the power of Satan. One of the best descriptions of Satan is recorded for us in a sermon preached by Origen. Origen was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and lived from the year 185 to the year 254. He is considered by some the first theologian of stature in the church. He wrote a sermon on almost every verse in the entire Bible. Origen preached that the Christian life is a struggle against the Devil’s “fiery darts” and “nets.”
Application: “Fiery darts” and “nets” is a good description on how the Devil tries to entrap us. The message of the Resurrection and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit will allow us to combat the “fiery darts” and “nets” of Satan.
*****
Proclamation / Discipleship / Holy Spirit
In the movie The Devil’s Advocate (1997) Kevin Lomax, who is played by Keanu Reeves, is a defense lawyer who specializes in jury selection. Even though he is appalled by the actions of his clients and allows witnesses to lie on the stand, he is driven, not by justice, but by a motivation to always win. Realizing his success, John Milton, who is played by Al Pacino, the senior partner in a New York City law firm, entices Lomax to relocate to the city with a huge financial package with many perks attached to it. Lomax’s wife, Mary Ann, who is played by Charlize Theron, is at first excited about the opportunities that the Big Apple has to offer; but, she slowly becomes disillusioned and desires to return home to Gainesville, Florida. Her husband refuses, because he is riveted by the big cases he is assigned and his ability to continue to win. As the movie progresses, and after Mary Ann suffers many personal disappointments and tragedies, causing her to commit suicide, the audience learns that John Milton is Satan. In the closing scene Lomax and Milton have a violent confrontation when Lomax learns who the senior partner really is. In the exchange of dialogue Milton says that the greatest sin he uses is “vanity.” Even though he is Satan, he cannot overcome free will. But what he can do is create situations where the vanity of an individual empowers them to do wrong. Milton says in the movie, “Vanity, definitely my favorite sin.” Realizing this, Milton says all that he has to do is “set the stage,” and an individual’s vanity, a desire for success and notoriety, will lead an individual to personal destruction. In the case of Lomax, vanity caused him to forsake the intimacy that Mary Ann craved so he could continue a winning law practice.
Application: Empowered by the Holy Spirit and the gospel message, we are to subdue Satan.
***************
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Playing Second Fiddle
I have a musical ear. It’s a gift that I did nothing to earn but that I try to cultivate with practice. I can play about a dozen musical instruments well enough to have fun and there are few things I enjoy more than back porch jam sessions where a bunch of us get together and play music, mostly by ear, for our own enjoyment and the enjoyment of those who gather around to listen or sing along.
Several years ago, having taught myself to play the guitar, banjo, and mandolin, I decided to try my luck at the fiddle. I discovered that it is tuned exactly like the mandolin and many of the same principles apply to both instruments. I spent a couple of months learning and practicing some rudimentary skills and then took my fiddle to a music festival where I heard that there were lots of jam sessions going on and beginners were welcome.
What I quickly discovered was that I could not keep up with the fiddle players who played that instrument only and had never played anything else. They were well practiced and their skills were honed on years and years of experience. They hit every note perfectly.
What I also discovered, however, was that there was much joy to be had in playing second fiddle. First fiddle plays the melody, you see. And when you play the melody there’s only one note that is right and you must play it.
Second fiddle plays harmony and harmony allows that there are any number of notes that will sound good with the one note that the melody must play. Second fiddle may not get all the glory, the ooh’s and the ah’s that first fiddle gets, but we have much more latitude in what we can play and still sound good.
We add depth and breadth to the sound of the band, we make music, and we have just as much fun as everyone else, just playing second fiddle.
Perhaps that’s why “playing second fiddle” is such a common metaphor when we talk about community effort and community building. It’s not very glamorous but it is essential. And it can be fun.
*****
The Opposite of Community
Dr. John T. Cacioppo Ph.D., writing for Psychology Today about how human beings experience loneliness, says: “Talent, financial success, fame, even adoration, offers no protection from the subjective experience [of loneliness]. Janis Joplin, who was as shy and withdrawn off stage as she was raucous and explosive on, said shortly before her death that she was working on a tune called, ‘I just made love to 25,000 people, but I'm going home alone.’ Three of the most idolized women of the twentieth century, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, and Princess Diana, were famously lonely people. And yet a fourth, Gretta Garbo, was famous for saying ‘I vant to be alone.’ Which serves to remind us that there is nothing inherently problematic about solitude in and of itself. Loneliness isn't about being alone, it's about not feeling connected.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/connections/200905/epidemic-loneliness
*****
The Opposite of Community 2.0
Psychologist John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago has been tracking the effects of loneliness. He performed a series of novel studies and reported that loneliness works in some surprising ways to compromise health.
- Perhaps most astonishing, in a survey he conducted, doctors themselves confided that they provide better or more complete medical care to patients who have supportive families and are not socially isolated.
- Living alone increases the risk of suicide for young and old alike.
- Lonely individuals report higher levels of perceived stress even when exposed to the same stressors as non-lonely people, and even when they are relaxing.
- The social interaction lonely people do have are not as positive as those of other people, hence the relationships they have do not buffer them from stress as relationships normally do.
- Loneliness raises levels of circulating stress hormones and levels of blood pressure. It undermines regulation of the circulatory system so that the heart muscle works harder and the blood vessels are subject to damage by blood flow turbulence.
- Loneliness destroys the quality and efficiency of sleep, so that it is less restorative, both physically and psychologically. They wake up more at night and spend less time in bed actually sleeping than do the nonlonely.
In other words, we are built for social contact. There are serious -- life-threatening -- consequences when we don't get enough. We can't stay on track mentally. And we are compromised physically. Social skills are crucial for your health.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200307/the-dangers-loneliness
*****
Monkey Business in Monkey Communities
Scientists have observed that when monkeys learn that attempting to reach a banana results in a negative consequence imposed by someone more powerful, they stop trying to reach the banana. If one of the original monkeys leaves the group and a new monkey replaces him, she will be attacked by the remaining original monkeys when she spies the banana and tries to get it. She doesn't know why she is attacked, and she doesn't know about the original consequence.
When another monkey from the original group leaves and is replaced by yet a second new monkey, the same thing happens. The first new monkey participates in the attack on the second new monkey. Neither of the new monkeys experienced the powerful entity's initial punishment, and they were attacked by the original monkeys remaining in the group.
As this process moves forward, eventually none of the original monkeys remain in the group, but none of the new monkeys tries to get the banana. Each new monkey learns that its counterparts don't try to get the reward, because that's the way it has always been.
We see this phenomenon happening in all sorts of human communities -- businesses, clubs, schools, churches.
We do something or don’t do something simply becaue that’s always been the way we do or don’t do it. Often, we have forgotten the “why” and simply rely on the “what.” When new members enter the community and try to initiate new behaviors they are shouted or beaten down by the majority becaue the old behavior has become indelibly ingrained.
*****
A Harvest of Love
My first experience as a pastor was in a two-point circuit in rural Ohio. The churches were only about two miles apart but one was a former Methodist Episcopal and the other was a former Methodist Protestant and their histories and traditions were so different that, even though they all knew each other, they could not bring themselves to worship together.
About eighteen months into my ministry, on a rainy October night, two little girls from one of the churches were murdered, killed by their uncle in an Angel Dust induced, hallucination driven frenzy. In forty years of ministry I would never experience anything to rival the way that incident taxed my pastoral skills.
But, even in the midst of all that horror and grief, I saw things that inspired and revived me.
The family of those little victims all lived relatively close to each other and were all farmers. One day, not long after the double funeral, I was visiting with the parents, having a cup of coffee with them in their kitchen, when we were interrupted by a pounding on the door and a loud racket of engines and farm vehicles and implements driving into the barn lot between the house and the barn.
Ed, the father, went to the door, spoke to someone, and came back to the table. He sat and shook his head and took his wife’s hand in his. “They’re going to harvest the corn,” he said. “They’re all here and they’re going to do it all in one day. He said they would be back to do the beans next week. He said we weren’t to worry about anything.”
We all sat there, staring into our coffee, trying to hold back our tears. There was another knock at the door. Ed got up to go answer it again and came back in a moment with another man I had not met. He held his hat in his hands and looked at me.
“Reverend, we noticed your car out there, so we knew you were here and wondered if you’d be willing to come out and start off the day’s work with a prayer for us.”
Would I be willing? Oh, you bet I would.
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!
People: We rejoice in the communion God brings to us.
Leader: It is like the precious oil of anointing and blessing.
People: We are blessed, indeed, with God’s unity among us.
Leader: It is like the dew of Hermon where God set out a blessing.
People: Let us give thanks to God who draws us together.
OR
Leader: Join in the worship of our Triune God.
People: We praise the unity of God in the midst of God’s diversity.
Leader: Embrace those around you who are God’s children.
People: We enclose one another in the fold of God’s love.
Leader: Seek out the lost and alone and bring them within the fold.
People: As God sought us, so we will seek others.
Hymns and Songs:
“All Creatures of Our God and King”
UMH: 62
H82: 400
PH: 455
AAHH: 147
NNBH: 33
NCH: 17
CH: 22
LBW: 527
ELA: 835
W&P: 23
AMEC: 50
STLT: 203
Renew: 47
“Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain”
UMH: 315
H82: 199/200
PH: 114/115
NCH: 230
CH: 215
LBW: 132
ELA: 363
“Where Charity and Love Prevail”
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELA: 359
“Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation”
UMH: 559
H82: 518
PH: 416/417
NCH: 400
CH: 275
LBW: 367
ELA: 645
AMEC: 518
“Let There Be Peace on Earth”
UMH: 431
CH: 677
W&P: 614
“Come, We That Love the Lord / Marching to Zion”
UMH: 732/733
H82: 392
AAHH: 590
NNBH: 367
NCH: 379/382
CH: 707
ELA: 625
W&P: 67
AMEC: 50
“Sent Forth by God’s Blessing”
UMH: 664
NCH: 76
LBW: 221
ELA: 547
W&P: 712
Renew: 307
“One Bread, One Body (Communion)”
UMH: 620
CH: 393
ELA: 496
W&P: 689
CCB: 49
“Unity”
CCB: 59
“As We Gather”
CCB: 12
Renew: 6
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
ELA: 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 community within your own self:
Grant us the grace to open ourselves to your unity
so that we may dwell together in peace and love;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We bless your name, O God, for the unity and diversity of your own self. As we worship you as a community within yourself, help us to open ourselves to you so that we may be part of that community. Then help us to recreate that unity with others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially love affair with individualism.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us to be in communion with you and with another. Jesus prayed that we might be one even as he was one with you. Yet we have failed to embrace ourselves as a community. We prefer to do things as individuals or as very small groups. We fail to see others as your children and, therefore, as our sisters and brothers. We look for division where we should be looking for togetherness. Forgive us and draw us closer to you so that we might draw closer to one another and all your children. Amen.
Leader: God desires nothing more than to embrace all of us into the divine reality of love. Receive God’s love and grace and use that power to embrace the world.
Prayers of the People
We praise and adore you, O God, the three in one. You dwell in perfect unity within yourself and seek to extend that to all creation.
(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. You have created us to be in communion with you and with another. Jesus prayed that we might be one even as he was one with you. Yet we have failed to embrace ourselves as a community. We prefer to do things as individuals or as very small groups. We fail to see others as your children and, therefore, as our sisters and brothers. We look for division where we should be looking for togetherness. Forgive us and draw us closer to you so that we might draw closer to one another and all your children.
We give you thanks for those who love us and care for us as the embrace us in love. We thank you for the communities that make a place for us. We thank you for your Church which sought us and seeks to bring all your children into its loving embrace.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for your children in need. We pray for those who find themselves alone and separated from others. We pray for those who are shunned and cast out from those who should be loving them.
(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 Starter Have two long dowels and a softball. Place the softball between the dowels and ask a child to lift the ball and carry it a few feet away. Have all the children who wish to try. Few, if any, will be able to do it. Now ask them to work in pairs. It is much easier to do it this way. God gives us each other to help one another. Some things we can do alone but they are much easier and more fun when we work together. That is what the Church is (at one level) a group of people with Jesus who help each other and help each other help the world.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Thomas’ FAQ (Faithfully Asked Questions)
by Chris Keating
John 20:19-31
Prepare in Advance -- Optional handout -- Ahead of Sunday, prepare a handout that can be shared with the children. At the top of the page, write “Faithfully Asking Questions.” Then write these questions, making sure to leave space for children to write down answers. This is an intergenerational activity that invites sharing between adults and children. (Note: it is important to follow your church’s children’s safety policies during any intergenerational activity, which could mean that parents should accompany their children when talking with adults.)
Who? (the name of the person)
Where did they go to church as a child?
Why is going to church important to them?
When did they start attending this church?
What one question would they ask God?
As Tom Willadsen points out in his main article, the Apostle Thomas has frequently been maligned throughout history as a dim-witted “doubter” who somehow did not have sufficient faith to believe in Jesus’ resurrection. As Tom discusses, Thomas is more than just a one-dimensional character. Fred Craddock, in his commentary on John, suggests something similar. John’s resurrection narrative shows the Beloved disciple believing because he sees the empty tomb, while Mary believes because she hears Jesus call her by name. Thomas believes because he saw Jesus. (Craddock, “John,” Westminster/John Knox Press, 1982, p. 142.) The point, of course, is that each of us comes to faith differently.
The Thomas story offers a wonderful opportunity to remind children that asking questions is an important part of being faithful. We might say that instead of calling him “doubting” Thomas, we should instead call him Curious Thomas. He has lots and lots of questions for Jesus -- he wants to see his wounds, for example, no doubt because he wonders how someone could be crucified, yet resurrected. This story is about Thomas’ “F.A.Q’s,” or “faithfully asked questions.”
Questions are an important part of faith. Learning how to ask the right sort of questions is also important. Help the children understand that there are many types of asking questions. Some questions have simple answers: “Where is the restroom?” Other questions require longer answers. Thomas asked puzzling questions, but that was because he wanted to learn more about Jesus. Asking questions is one of the ways we can grow in our understanding of God.
We have lots of questions we’d like to ask Jesus. Thomas’ encounter with the risen Lord reminds us that asking questions is one of the ways people come to faith. Just as we ask questions in school, we ask questions about faith in order to learn more. Thomas wasn’t a bad disciple; in many ways, he was fulfilling the role God had called him to pursue.
Some religious traditions use catechisms, or sets of theological questions, to help children grow. Two examples include the catechism for young children from The Reformed Church, the Study Catechism from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Catechisms are another way of learning how to ask questions. If your church uses these tools, today might be a good day to introduce them.
Another option of helping children ask questions would be to spend a few moments asking the congregation to share their questions for God. These can be the source of upcoming sermons. The children could help write down the questions and they could be posted on bulletin boards in the church. Inviting the children to become reporters who gather information from church members using the questions on the “Faithfully Asking Questions” handout is another way of helping them understand the importance of a faith that is always seeking to learn more.
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The Immediate Word, April 8, 2018, issue.
Copyright 2018 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.
