Peace In An Angry World
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Division and unrest seem to be the general state of affairs in the world today. With this division comes anxiety, restlessness, and a lack of harmony. This is evident in the current presidential campaign. Rather than simply being an issues-driven campaign, we see the descent into bickering, backbiting, and character attacks. Where can we find peace in today's world of conflict? Paul Bresnahan will write the main article, with Scott Suskovic writing the response. Illustrations, liturgical aids, and a children's sermon are also provided.
Peace in An Angry World
Paul Bresnahan
John 20:19-31
Many of us had hoped it would be different... perhaps this year we would have an election cycle that would lift public discourse to a higher level. When Barack Obama began to articulate his vision of America, did we not feel our spirits stirring within us? That was until somebody managed to find a tape of Obama's pastor. And there for our ears and eyes to hear and see were the words; "God damn America!" The Clinton campaign wonders about the safety of the child asleep at three in the morning when the telephone rings in the White House. The Obama people fight back with a few intemperate remarks of their own. Meanwhile, back at the radio console, Rush Limbaugh is making hay out of the whole thing and the vented spleen of our public life becomes angrier and angrier!
It is into this world that the peace of God comes. It came by way of a man that hung upon a cross because he, too, came into an angry world. Yet the one thing he left with us was that peace that passes understanding. Today let's explore the peace of God that is borne on the wings of justice, and let us see how the man that appeared to us in the upper room that night can bring us that peace. He brings that peace even to the "doubting Thomas" within us.
THE WORD
The gospel reading for today is one of my favorites. It is a day when the "patron saint" of doubters has his chance to articulate what we all feel from time to time. Unless I see with my own eyes, unless I thrust my hands into his side, I will not believe. In contrast, Jesus appears on numerous occasions with the greeting, "Peace be with you." How curious that Jesus would bring peace. The disciples were no doubt heartbroken, and more than that, they were terrified. After all, the same fate that fell to Jesus, would befall many of his followers as the record would show. Facing the anger of the crowd is terrifying. Jesus did that with nothing less than the peace of God.
In the lesson from Acts, Peter seems to be on a roll. He is not afraid anymore but takes it right to the crowd, telling them that they killed this man who had performed such "deeds of power, wonders, and signs" (2:22). The same crowd he addressed put Jesus to death, he tells them with great courage and without fear. Then he proclaims the resurrection. "But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power" (2:24). The wonderful peace of God that passes understanding had come to Peter. From then on nothing could hold him back from his preaching ministry.
Peter goes on in his exquisite letter to proclaim the power of the resurrection. It is something that they have seen with the eyes of faith. It is nothing short of the power of God that is able to protect everyone who puts their faith in God. Peter goes on, "He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading" (1 Peter 1:3-4). It is this living hope that gives Peter and the early Christian community courage and resolve.
THE WORLD
The remarks of Barack Obama's pastor have come under rigorous scrutiny in recent days. Repeatedly we've heard him say, "God damn America," and articulate a point of view which has been angry and intemperate by any measure. Obama has been held to account for not distancing himself from that pastor and that church soon enough or far enough. His judgment has been questioned and many are wondering if he is the man to bring America together with a new vision of one nation under a new set of lofty ideals.
Pastor Wright is not the only pastor we've heard who likes to vent his spleen. Those of us who are liberal, or sympathetic to the poor or to our sisters and brothers in the LGBT community certainly know what it is like to be taken to task at almost any time on the so-called "Christian" televangelist channels. No end of curious statements have been made by Jerry Falwell, including the one about a "Teletubby" being gay, the ACLU being to Christians what Nazis were to the Jews, and that AIDS was an expression of the wrath of God against homosexuals.
Yet no political figure including our current president has been taken to task for aligning himself or herself with the evangelical right. In fact, quite to the contrary, the evangelical right has become an often-decisive and legitimate part of American political life in spite of the extreme views articulated by pastors at that end of the political spectrum.
It is interesting that Barack Obama is taken to task for Pastor Wright's intemperate remarks, but those who embrace the evangelical right are tolerated even if awkwardly so.
What does seem to be universal in too many corners of our current American experience is anger. Vilifying and blaming the Clintons is a national pastime for some talk show hosts. Liberals, civil libertarians, and gay folks are an easy mark. I will never understand Rush Limbaugh, and his dislike of McCain is at the top of things I don't understand about him. What does seem to be a unifying principle for us though is anger. In the 1976 movie, Network, nothing improves ratings for the "Union Broadcasting System" like the amazing rant of the antagonist played by William Holden: "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" The whole nation is galvanized by the statement in the movie. More than that, the turn of phrase seemed to catch something deep in the American psyche, because it seems many of us are still mad as hell. What makes the anger dangerous is that we're mad now in the name of Jesus. That's like being mad in the name of Allah, or in the name of the God of Abraham. In fact, we seem to love angry people, like the fellow that rants on about the stock market every evening on TV.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Peace in An Angry World
When anger is all around us, how shall we have peace? The cacophony of war, rage, and media bombardment is everywhere. It is every day, all day, 24/7. I remember when news radio WINS went to a nonstop format in New York City. At first it was helpful, I thought, I could get my news anytime I wanted it. Then CNN did for us on TV what news radio did for us on the airwaves. Again the notion, "You give us 20 minutes and we'll give you the world," had a compelling appeal to it. We could go one place for our music and another for our news. Then the Weather Channel gave us the weather in living color complete with national and regional radar and local conditions in a predictable cycle. Our local stations give us "traffic on the 7s" and on and on it goes. Then we had talk radio. I am old enough to remember when the tenor of talk radio was somewhat more modulated than it is today. Now it tends to be conservative, constant, and often angry.
There is road rage, air rage, and even supermarket rage. More recently it has become serious. Now we have terrorism and warfare, racism, sexism, and classism. Having said that, we all come to realize we've always had them. We come to realize we've lived with anger for a very long time.
Jesus came into a very angry and dangerous world. Thus it is no mistake then that when Jesus came to his friends in the upper room on that first Easter Day, he brought with him the message "Peace be with you." He repeats the message three times. To the one who doubted, he presented himself with an invitation to "put your hand into my side." And thus there was peace. There was faith. There was belief.
From a fearful band afraid of the anger of the crowd, the disciples became single-mindedly resolved to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. That is what would give them peace.
Peace would not come by avoiding the anger of the crowd or conflict. Peace would come by bringing good news to the poor, healing the sick and the lame, visiting the prisoners in their distress, and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor. Peace would come by treating the least of these in the social order as if they were Jesus himself. If they were hungry, they would feed them. If they were naked, they'd clothe them. If in prison, they would visit them. We all can easily get the idea and go from there.
In other words, every nation from that time to this would be judged by God in accordance with the measure that it treated the least of these. That would be the sign for all time as to how that nation treated Jesus.
It was thus that Jesus brought peace into the world then. It is in the same way that Jesus brings peace into the world now. Nations and empires come and go. As they live into the notion of justice they may have peace. When they turn their backs on the least of these, they also turn their backs on justice. God's judgment in this regard is just a matter of record.
An angry world can become a self-centered world. It can easily forget the poor. It can insult the enemy within and the enemy without. It can forget to love. The human heart can become as hard as rock. When it does justice will fail and peace will fade away. There will be war again, until we tire of that. Then we will return to God. The sacred pages will come back to life in our holy writings. Someone will stumble across the Sermon on the Mount. Someone else will remember "insofar as you have done it to the least of these you have done it to me."
There will be a leader who will give his life over to the cause of justice. There will be peace for a while until our anger blinds us to the love of God and one another. Then we'll do it all over again.
Easter comes to us each year, as does Christmas, to bring us peace. We humans are a tough study. It has been there all along and we know it deep down just like we know God and love Jesus. We do get angry. We nurse our grudges. We feud in our families. We fight our enemies. We forget to forgive. Reconciliation is hard work!
Then as Jesus tells us "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another" (John 13:34). It is the greatest irony of history that this commandment is always so new. No doubt Jesus took on anger directly in the Sermon on the Mount. "But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire" (Matthew 5:22).
So then, when anger is all around, how shall we have peace? Repent and believe my friends -- it is as simple as that. Love one another... try that, too. Let justice flow like a mighty stream. And as the storm rages on the sea so badly that it looks as though we'll sink and we'll all perish, then perhaps we'll hear the calm voice of the one asleep in the stern of the ship: "Hush, be still!" "Rise up ye saints of God. Have done with lesser things." Easter joy brings peace on the wings of justice. May our Easter be blessed with peace... as Jesus repeats the message time after time. Place your hands into the side of Jesus, and thus believe. He lives that we might have peace and that is his greatest gift to us. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid" (John 14:27).
ANOTHER VIEW
Coming Full Circle
Scott Suskovic
One of the common traits of super heroes is a hidden identity. "Who was that masked man? All he left was this silver bullet." From a silver bullet to the mark of the Z to even the cryptic phrase, "Kilroy was here," it's fun to have a hidden identity. It sparks interest, it creates a mystique, and it sells stories. We love a good mystery.
That ploy of keeping hidden the true identity of the hero makes for good movies and novels and even, for a large part, describes the gospel of Mark, but it doesn't fit John's gospel. John, much more than the other gospels, wants the reader to be very sure who this superhero is he describes.
Who is Jesus?
John begins by writing, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (1:1, 14).
Who is Jesus?
John continues with Jesus saying, "The Father and I are one. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (10:30; 14:9).
Who is Jesus?
From the mouth of the most doubting disciples comes the statement of boldest faith, "My Lord and my God" (20:28).
Who is Jesus?
John wants the reader to be clear. He is the Messiah. The Savior. Jesus is God in the flesh made manifest.
John is not a very good mystery writer. He gives too much away. Mysteries are not his genre. He doesn't want to confuse the reader or leave them dangling with just a couple of clues asking, "Who was that crowned man?" The empty tomb is not enough. John wants the reader to know that HE knows who Jesus is, the disciples know who Jesus is, even doubting Thomas figures out who Jesus is. The only one left is you. Do you know? Have you made up your mind? Have you come to grips with the true identity of this superhero? John's purpose for writing this gospel is not to present a riddle or string us along with suspense and mystery. He isn't interested in merely presenting a historical account and record raw data for the sake of posterity. John's purpose is clear. He wants to dispel any lingering doubts and move his listeners to faith. That's why he lays out the facts about Jesus so plainly that you also, this day, before you leave, have it clear in your own heart that Jesus is one with God. He is our Savior, and that believing this, you may have life in his name. No mystery. No suspense. No doubt. Only belief.
In order to reveal this true identity, John brings us full circle. He begins his gospel with creation -- "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God..."
He ends his gospel coming full circle.
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
-- John 20:19
When evening rolls around on that first Easter, the disciples are found huddled in a locked room afraid of the dark, scared that any noise they hear might be an angry lynch mob coming after them. By this time, Mary has probably told them the good news of seeing Jesus but... they doubt, "Is it just wishful thinking? Do you really think she saw him? I know she would like to think she saw him, but really!" How quickly these men of faith collapse into weasels of doubt. It is true, as John wrote in the beginning of his gospel, "We love the darkness." We naturally lean towards the law, doubt, fear, and even death. It is almost as if we are cockroaches who scatter from the light. So the light must search us out. Notice when the light does come: on the first day of the week. We've already gone through the seven days of the week; now we are on the eighth day, the rabbinic day of the new creation, new life, and new dawn that breaks forth with this new light. Jesus appears on the eighth day speaking the words that echo the first creation story when everything was "very good." "Shalom Aleichem!" Peace be with you.
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
-- John 20:20-21
Jesus is the same and yet, he has changed. In the twinkle of an eye, at the sound of the trumpet, he has changed. He is as we shall be one day. A bodily resurrection but not in the same physical sense of flesh and bone, cellulite and gray hair, nearsightedness and bad hearing. It is a spiritual body, a glimpse of our future hope.
Jesus continues, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." The Greek word for send is apostello, from which we get the word apostle. Literally, then, these men and all believers after them have a new title: Apostle, a title that describes not only who we are but what we are called to do. We are the sent out ones. We are apostles of Jesus Christ.
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."
-- John 20:22-23
He breathed on them. There are stories long ago from the Eastern Orthodox Church. They believed at one point that the breath of a holy man had power and life. So, for the ordination of priests, they would collect the breath of the patriarch, the person equivalent to the western pope, into a bag, bring the bag to the place of ordination, and let it loose. The breath of a holy man transformed old into new. It brought life.
Where else have you heard about the breath of one bringing new life to another? Remember? When God made Adam, he shaped him in the clay, molded him into the perfect and then, gently, did what... God breathed into Adam's nostrils and gave him life.
Likewise, Jesus molded these apostles who were dead to sin into just the form he wanted and then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." It is a re-creation story. He gave them life, centered on the forgiveness of sins.
Do you see what John is doing? This is the creation story retold. It is a new creation. A re-creation. To accent this new creation story, Jesus said, "Peace be with you." Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, does not mean a hope that things are going well. Shalom has a deeper meaning of harmony. God and the world living together in peace the way it was in the Garden of Eden before the fall. With the resurrection of Jesus and his appearance on this eighth day, that chasm of sin and death separating the Creator from creation, has now come together -- and there is peace. Finally.
Who is Jesus? Make no mistake. John said he was there in the beginning creating all things with God. And once again, he appears, recreating, restoring, renewing in this second creation story. And again, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
-- John 20:24-25
There are those who will be forever known for one aspect of their life. Judas, the betrayer. Benedict Arnold, the traitor. George Washington, first president. Abraham Lincoln, freer of slaves. Thomas, the doubter. These are names and titles that can never be shaken.
John makes it clear that Thomas isn't sitting on the fence, still trying to decide. He is adamant. In fact, he doesn't just want to see Jesus, he wants to do more. The translation says he wants to touch the wounds but that makes us think that he wants to piously brush the nail marks and wonder at the mystery of the resurrection. The Greek word John used was ballo, a word that means to toss, like you toss a ball or thrust a javelin. A better translation of this that captures the intensity would be: "Unless I see the mark of the nails, stick my fingers in the mark of the nails and thrust my hand deep into that gaping wound I saw on his side, there is absolutely no way I will ever believe. Period. Dead is dead."
To say that Thomas doubted is putting it mildly.
A week later, his disciples were gain in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God."
-- John 20:26-28
Oops! John went and gave away the secret. Who is Jesus? The ultimate answer falls on the lips of this cynic named Thomas who drops to his knees and proclaims, "My Lord and my God." A journey from doubt to faith.
Legend has it that Thomas left that upper room and eventually ended up in India to preach the message about the risen Lord. The one who was once a skeptic brought the message to doubters. The one who would not believe until he saw Jesus preached to those who did not have the opportunity to see and touch. The one who wasn't willing to believe simply on the testimony of others, eventually was put to death in India because of his testimony.
From the meager beginning of an upper room, heavy with sorry, guilt, and doubt began a church based solely on the testimony of skeptics transformed into believers. They were sent out with that profound testimony of who Jesus is: "My Lord and my God." With that message spoken on the lips of the doubter, John brings his gospel full circle and returns his reader to his first chapter where he wrote.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
Who is Jesus? John knows. The disciples know. Even Thomas figured it out. But the question is not longer, "Do the disciples know?" The question is, "Do you know?" We are the ones for whom John wrote. We are the ones whom Jesus called blessed because we have not seen and yet believe. We are the ones whom John wants to lead out of the darkness of doubt and into the fullness of faith.
Who is Jesus? This is not some whodunit flick. John isn't writing about some caped crusader. There isn't some mystery to figure out. He lays it out there on the table. Better yet, he plops it on our laps and points that unavoidable finger into our souls and says, "I know. The disciples know. Do you?"
ILLUSTRATIONS
In our epistle text today, Peter writes to encourage Christians who are suffering because of their faith. Building on this, Martin Luther urges us to see our suffering and our afflictions and all the things that trouble us as things that, with our Lord's help, can ultimately lead to good, for us and for others. Luther writes:
So in our suffering we should so act that we give our greatest attention to the promise, in order that our cross and affliction may be turned to good, to something which we could never have asked or thought.
And this is precisely the thing which makes a difference between the Christian's suffering and afflictions and those of all other people. For they also have their afflictions, cross, and misfortune, just as they also have their times when they can sit in the rose garden and employ their good fortune and their goods as they please.
But when they run into affliction and suffering, they have nothing to comfort them, for they do not have the mighty promises and confidence in God which Christians have. Therefore they cannot comfort themselves with the assurance that God will help them to bear the affliction, much less can they count on it that he will turn their affliction and suffering to good.
-- Martin Luther, "Sermon on Cross and Suffering," Luther's Works (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975) pp. 200-201
* * *
God does not keep [us] immune from trouble; God says, "I will be with [you] in trouble." It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of [our] life, not one of them can separate [us] from [our] relationship to God.
"We are more than conquerors in all these things." Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says that we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ.
Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you. Some extraordinary thing happens to a [person] who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Only one thing can account for it -- the love of God in Christ Jesus.
-- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour, 2000) p. 140
* * *
It was not just Thomas who had difficulty believing that Jesus really was raised from the dead that first Easter morning. Listen to the words of a contemporary poet:
It was not just Thomas
who found it difficult
to believe in you, Jesus.
After you walked out of the tomb,
you talked with Mary Magdalene --
and she hurried to tell
your sorrowing followers.
But they would not believe her.
Nor would they believe the two
who hurried back to Jerusalem
to report that you had walked with them
and broken bread with them.
You had to go yourself
to where these followers were gathered
so that they would know
that you are truly the holy one of God.
To where we are gathered,
come now, Jesus.
-- Barbara Jurgensen, Following You (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990) p.37
* * *
There is an old Zen story about the son of an emperor, who had a difficult time controlling his anger. His tutor, Jato, knowing that the emperor was worried that his son might not be able to display the restraint necessary to govern wisely, took action one day. He dragged the boy, in the midst of one of his tantrums, over to a flowering bush and thrust the prince's hand into the midst of a cluster of bees. Predictably, one of the bees stung him.
"I'm going to tell my father," shouted red-faced boy.
"When you tell your father," said Jato, "tell him this..."
"Tell him what?"
"Look at the bee."
The boy looked at the bee, and saw how it was writhing in its death-throes, its abdomen torn open by the loss of its stinger. Silently, the two of them watched it until it stopped moving.
"That," said the teacher, in a voice calm yet kind, "is the price of anger."
It is said that the boy, when he finally became emperor, was known for his calm demeanor and quiet judgment.
* * *
Whoever loves true prayer and yet becomes angry or resentful is his own enemy. He is like a man who wants to see clearly and yet inflicts damage on his own eyes.
-- Evgarius the Solitary, Treatise on Prayer, 64
* * *
One Sunday, I put on one of the few clean jackets I had, and went over to Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street on the South Side of Chicago. And I heard Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright deliver a sermon called "The Audacity of Hope." And during the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him. And in time, I came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life.
It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn't fall out in church, as folks sometimes do. The questions I had didn't magically disappear. The skeptical bent of my mind didn't suddenly vanish. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God's Spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out His works.
-- Barack Obama, "A Politics of Conscience"
* * *
Suppose you held a glass of liquid as you walked toward me, and I carelessly or deliberately reached out and bumped you. Whatever you carried inside that glass would spill out. That is the way our lives are. When we are bumped, whatever is inside comes out.
That is why being filled with the Spirit on a continual basis is so important. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Bump that kind of person and you will get the personality of Jesus....
When I find a "Christian" who is unkind, or critical, I know I am ministering to someone who has been bumped: and what they are spilling out is the content of a life lacking the Spirit's presence.
The Holy Spirit is not filled with hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, faction, or envy. The Lord has given us very clear direction on how we are to respond to the person who has injured us. Our human reaction is to retaliate, blame, and feel self-pity. All these emotions while understandable, lead us down dead-end streets. In yielding to them we permit ourselves to become victims rather than victors.
-- George O. Wood, "How Do You Handle an Injustice?"
* * *
"Peace be with you," says Jesus. Literally, it was "Shalom."
Although "Shalom" is the daily greeting of neighbor to neighbor among the Jewish people, it means so much more than that. "Shalom" means not only peace, but also wholeness, and healing, and freedom. A person who's enjoying shalom is experiencing not merely the absence of conflict, but a deep and perfect inner peace, a tranquility of heart and mind and soul.
You would think that a people who speak peace to one another on such a regular basis would have no difficulty making peace, but the history of the nation of Israel demonstrates otherwise. That nation has been embroiled in almost constant warfare since the day of its founding.
Perhaps the biggest irony, though, is this. Both the Arabs and the Palestinians, who are Israel's chief antagonists, also have a traditional greeting. It is "Salaam."
Its meaning? "Peace." "Salaam" and "Shalom" are essentially the same word.
* * *
The world will never have lasting peace so long as [people] reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
-- John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Eisenhower
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call To Worship
Leader: Come, let all who would know the Lord gather, this day, for worship!
People: But we are a people with many doubts and fears.
Leader: Yet the Lord calls to each of us, leading us on to faith.
People: Then God will not reject us if we share the doubts in our hearts?
Leader: All who come seeking Christ with open hearts will know God's love.
People: Blessed be the name of the Lord!
-- James R. Wilson, Lectionary Worship Aids, Series IV, Cycle A (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing, 1995), p. 96
Call To Confession
How quickly we forget that we are an Easter people, raised up out of the ways of death into fullness of life. The power of death leaves us shaken and afraid, but God in Christ calls us out of our fear to experience a presence that embraces us with eternal hope. We confess now all that keeps us from accepting the gift of the Holy Spirit.
-- Lavon Bayler, Taught By Love: Worship Resources for Year A (United Church Press, 1998), p. 88
Prayer of Confession
Almighty and all-merciful God,
we confess before you that we have sinned.
With our mouths we call you "Lord,"
while with our actions we demonstrate how limited is our trust.
We have given in to doubt and anxiety;
we have gone along with the ridicule of those who are different;
we have tolerated dishonesty in our midst.
We have not sought out the things that make for peace.
Forgive us, O Lord;
by the power of your son Jesus, raise us to new life. Amen.
Offertory Prayer
We rejoice in the inheritance you have given us, O God, and delight in sharing it with others. You have given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You have touched our lives with eternity, with indescribable and glorious joy. We want others to experience what we have begun to realize in company with one another and with you. To that end, bless all the offerings of this day. Amen.
Benediction
A Franciscan Blessing
May God bless us with discomfort...
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
so that we may live deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with anger...
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that we may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless us with tears...
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless us with enough foolishness...
to believe that we can make a difference in this world,
so that we can do what others claim cannot be done.
-- Anonymous
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Believe
Object: a mallet, some antique nails
John 20:19-31
So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe" (v. 25).
Good morning, boys and girls. It was a funny but wonderful feeling. It was different than anything else that had ever happened to the disciples of Jesus. It was still Easter Day but it was evening and the disciples were hiding in the same room where they had shared the Passover with Jesus. They had talked about the empty tomb. They repeated the things that Peter and John had discovered when they ran to the place where Jesus had been buried. They could not forget Mary Magdalene's experiences where she actually saw Jesus and spoke with him. How was it possible? They saw him die on the cross. They watched the soldier spear his side. The word was out that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had buried him with their own hands in the tomb with the huge rock covering the entrance. They were back in the room knowing that it was only a few minutes or hours before the soldiers would come and arrest them. They locked the doors and shut all of the windows.
While they were talking in low voices they heard someone say, "Peace be with you." Someone was standing there and talking to them. It was Jesus. He showed them his hands and his side and repeated the words, "Peace be with you." The disciples jumped up and grabbed each other with tears of joy running down their faces. It really was Jesus!
Some of them walked over to Jesus and looked at the holes that were made when the soldiers hammered the nails into Jesus' hands and feet. (show them the mallet and the antique nails) They remembered how Mary and John told them about the nails on the hill when Jesus was crucified. It was awful. It was bad, the worst that they had ever heard of in all the years that they lived.
But Jesus was really back and no one was happier than each of the disciples. Thomas was not there and would not be there for several days. The disciples told him about how Jesus came right through the door without opening it and how he showed them the nails and the wound of the spear. But Thomas said he would not believe it until he could put his finger on the holes made by the nails and the spear.
A week later, when Thomas was with the other disciples, Jesus did it again. He just appeared and showed Thomas the holes. Thomas was flabbergasted but he believed. He really believed.
The next time you see some nails and a big hammer maybe you will think about the time Jesus showed up and gave everyone there a look at his hands, side, and feet. You, too, will be amazed. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 30, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 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 permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
Peace in An Angry World
Paul Bresnahan
John 20:19-31
Many of us had hoped it would be different... perhaps this year we would have an election cycle that would lift public discourse to a higher level. When Barack Obama began to articulate his vision of America, did we not feel our spirits stirring within us? That was until somebody managed to find a tape of Obama's pastor. And there for our ears and eyes to hear and see were the words; "God damn America!" The Clinton campaign wonders about the safety of the child asleep at three in the morning when the telephone rings in the White House. The Obama people fight back with a few intemperate remarks of their own. Meanwhile, back at the radio console, Rush Limbaugh is making hay out of the whole thing and the vented spleen of our public life becomes angrier and angrier!
It is into this world that the peace of God comes. It came by way of a man that hung upon a cross because he, too, came into an angry world. Yet the one thing he left with us was that peace that passes understanding. Today let's explore the peace of God that is borne on the wings of justice, and let us see how the man that appeared to us in the upper room that night can bring us that peace. He brings that peace even to the "doubting Thomas" within us.
THE WORD
The gospel reading for today is one of my favorites. It is a day when the "patron saint" of doubters has his chance to articulate what we all feel from time to time. Unless I see with my own eyes, unless I thrust my hands into his side, I will not believe. In contrast, Jesus appears on numerous occasions with the greeting, "Peace be with you." How curious that Jesus would bring peace. The disciples were no doubt heartbroken, and more than that, they were terrified. After all, the same fate that fell to Jesus, would befall many of his followers as the record would show. Facing the anger of the crowd is terrifying. Jesus did that with nothing less than the peace of God.
In the lesson from Acts, Peter seems to be on a roll. He is not afraid anymore but takes it right to the crowd, telling them that they killed this man who had performed such "deeds of power, wonders, and signs" (2:22). The same crowd he addressed put Jesus to death, he tells them with great courage and without fear. Then he proclaims the resurrection. "But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power" (2:24). The wonderful peace of God that passes understanding had come to Peter. From then on nothing could hold him back from his preaching ministry.
Peter goes on in his exquisite letter to proclaim the power of the resurrection. It is something that they have seen with the eyes of faith. It is nothing short of the power of God that is able to protect everyone who puts their faith in God. Peter goes on, "He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading" (1 Peter 1:3-4). It is this living hope that gives Peter and the early Christian community courage and resolve.
THE WORLD
The remarks of Barack Obama's pastor have come under rigorous scrutiny in recent days. Repeatedly we've heard him say, "God damn America," and articulate a point of view which has been angry and intemperate by any measure. Obama has been held to account for not distancing himself from that pastor and that church soon enough or far enough. His judgment has been questioned and many are wondering if he is the man to bring America together with a new vision of one nation under a new set of lofty ideals.
Pastor Wright is not the only pastor we've heard who likes to vent his spleen. Those of us who are liberal, or sympathetic to the poor or to our sisters and brothers in the LGBT community certainly know what it is like to be taken to task at almost any time on the so-called "Christian" televangelist channels. No end of curious statements have been made by Jerry Falwell, including the one about a "Teletubby" being gay, the ACLU being to Christians what Nazis were to the Jews, and that AIDS was an expression of the wrath of God against homosexuals.
Yet no political figure including our current president has been taken to task for aligning himself or herself with the evangelical right. In fact, quite to the contrary, the evangelical right has become an often-decisive and legitimate part of American political life in spite of the extreme views articulated by pastors at that end of the political spectrum.
It is interesting that Barack Obama is taken to task for Pastor Wright's intemperate remarks, but those who embrace the evangelical right are tolerated even if awkwardly so.
What does seem to be universal in too many corners of our current American experience is anger. Vilifying and blaming the Clintons is a national pastime for some talk show hosts. Liberals, civil libertarians, and gay folks are an easy mark. I will never understand Rush Limbaugh, and his dislike of McCain is at the top of things I don't understand about him. What does seem to be a unifying principle for us though is anger. In the 1976 movie, Network, nothing improves ratings for the "Union Broadcasting System" like the amazing rant of the antagonist played by William Holden: "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" The whole nation is galvanized by the statement in the movie. More than that, the turn of phrase seemed to catch something deep in the American psyche, because it seems many of us are still mad as hell. What makes the anger dangerous is that we're mad now in the name of Jesus. That's like being mad in the name of Allah, or in the name of the God of Abraham. In fact, we seem to love angry people, like the fellow that rants on about the stock market every evening on TV.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Peace in An Angry World
When anger is all around us, how shall we have peace? The cacophony of war, rage, and media bombardment is everywhere. It is every day, all day, 24/7. I remember when news radio WINS went to a nonstop format in New York City. At first it was helpful, I thought, I could get my news anytime I wanted it. Then CNN did for us on TV what news radio did for us on the airwaves. Again the notion, "You give us 20 minutes and we'll give you the world," had a compelling appeal to it. We could go one place for our music and another for our news. Then the Weather Channel gave us the weather in living color complete with national and regional radar and local conditions in a predictable cycle. Our local stations give us "traffic on the 7s" and on and on it goes. Then we had talk radio. I am old enough to remember when the tenor of talk radio was somewhat more modulated than it is today. Now it tends to be conservative, constant, and often angry.
There is road rage, air rage, and even supermarket rage. More recently it has become serious. Now we have terrorism and warfare, racism, sexism, and classism. Having said that, we all come to realize we've always had them. We come to realize we've lived with anger for a very long time.
Jesus came into a very angry and dangerous world. Thus it is no mistake then that when Jesus came to his friends in the upper room on that first Easter Day, he brought with him the message "Peace be with you." He repeats the message three times. To the one who doubted, he presented himself with an invitation to "put your hand into my side." And thus there was peace. There was faith. There was belief.
From a fearful band afraid of the anger of the crowd, the disciples became single-mindedly resolved to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. That is what would give them peace.
Peace would not come by avoiding the anger of the crowd or conflict. Peace would come by bringing good news to the poor, healing the sick and the lame, visiting the prisoners in their distress, and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor. Peace would come by treating the least of these in the social order as if they were Jesus himself. If they were hungry, they would feed them. If they were naked, they'd clothe them. If in prison, they would visit them. We all can easily get the idea and go from there.
In other words, every nation from that time to this would be judged by God in accordance with the measure that it treated the least of these. That would be the sign for all time as to how that nation treated Jesus.
It was thus that Jesus brought peace into the world then. It is in the same way that Jesus brings peace into the world now. Nations and empires come and go. As they live into the notion of justice they may have peace. When they turn their backs on the least of these, they also turn their backs on justice. God's judgment in this regard is just a matter of record.
An angry world can become a self-centered world. It can easily forget the poor. It can insult the enemy within and the enemy without. It can forget to love. The human heart can become as hard as rock. When it does justice will fail and peace will fade away. There will be war again, until we tire of that. Then we will return to God. The sacred pages will come back to life in our holy writings. Someone will stumble across the Sermon on the Mount. Someone else will remember "insofar as you have done it to the least of these you have done it to me."
There will be a leader who will give his life over to the cause of justice. There will be peace for a while until our anger blinds us to the love of God and one another. Then we'll do it all over again.
Easter comes to us each year, as does Christmas, to bring us peace. We humans are a tough study. It has been there all along and we know it deep down just like we know God and love Jesus. We do get angry. We nurse our grudges. We feud in our families. We fight our enemies. We forget to forgive. Reconciliation is hard work!
Then as Jesus tells us "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another" (John 13:34). It is the greatest irony of history that this commandment is always so new. No doubt Jesus took on anger directly in the Sermon on the Mount. "But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire" (Matthew 5:22).
So then, when anger is all around, how shall we have peace? Repent and believe my friends -- it is as simple as that. Love one another... try that, too. Let justice flow like a mighty stream. And as the storm rages on the sea so badly that it looks as though we'll sink and we'll all perish, then perhaps we'll hear the calm voice of the one asleep in the stern of the ship: "Hush, be still!" "Rise up ye saints of God. Have done with lesser things." Easter joy brings peace on the wings of justice. May our Easter be blessed with peace... as Jesus repeats the message time after time. Place your hands into the side of Jesus, and thus believe. He lives that we might have peace and that is his greatest gift to us. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid" (John 14:27).
ANOTHER VIEW
Coming Full Circle
Scott Suskovic
One of the common traits of super heroes is a hidden identity. "Who was that masked man? All he left was this silver bullet." From a silver bullet to the mark of the Z to even the cryptic phrase, "Kilroy was here," it's fun to have a hidden identity. It sparks interest, it creates a mystique, and it sells stories. We love a good mystery.
That ploy of keeping hidden the true identity of the hero makes for good movies and novels and even, for a large part, describes the gospel of Mark, but it doesn't fit John's gospel. John, much more than the other gospels, wants the reader to be very sure who this superhero is he describes.
Who is Jesus?
John begins by writing, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (1:1, 14).
Who is Jesus?
John continues with Jesus saying, "The Father and I are one. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (10:30; 14:9).
Who is Jesus?
From the mouth of the most doubting disciples comes the statement of boldest faith, "My Lord and my God" (20:28).
Who is Jesus?
John wants the reader to be clear. He is the Messiah. The Savior. Jesus is God in the flesh made manifest.
John is not a very good mystery writer. He gives too much away. Mysteries are not his genre. He doesn't want to confuse the reader or leave them dangling with just a couple of clues asking, "Who was that crowned man?" The empty tomb is not enough. John wants the reader to know that HE knows who Jesus is, the disciples know who Jesus is, even doubting Thomas figures out who Jesus is. The only one left is you. Do you know? Have you made up your mind? Have you come to grips with the true identity of this superhero? John's purpose for writing this gospel is not to present a riddle or string us along with suspense and mystery. He isn't interested in merely presenting a historical account and record raw data for the sake of posterity. John's purpose is clear. He wants to dispel any lingering doubts and move his listeners to faith. That's why he lays out the facts about Jesus so plainly that you also, this day, before you leave, have it clear in your own heart that Jesus is one with God. He is our Savior, and that believing this, you may have life in his name. No mystery. No suspense. No doubt. Only belief.
In order to reveal this true identity, John brings us full circle. He begins his gospel with creation -- "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God..."
He ends his gospel coming full circle.
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
-- John 20:19
When evening rolls around on that first Easter, the disciples are found huddled in a locked room afraid of the dark, scared that any noise they hear might be an angry lynch mob coming after them. By this time, Mary has probably told them the good news of seeing Jesus but... they doubt, "Is it just wishful thinking? Do you really think she saw him? I know she would like to think she saw him, but really!" How quickly these men of faith collapse into weasels of doubt. It is true, as John wrote in the beginning of his gospel, "We love the darkness." We naturally lean towards the law, doubt, fear, and even death. It is almost as if we are cockroaches who scatter from the light. So the light must search us out. Notice when the light does come: on the first day of the week. We've already gone through the seven days of the week; now we are on the eighth day, the rabbinic day of the new creation, new life, and new dawn that breaks forth with this new light. Jesus appears on the eighth day speaking the words that echo the first creation story when everything was "very good." "Shalom Aleichem!" Peace be with you.
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
-- John 20:20-21
Jesus is the same and yet, he has changed. In the twinkle of an eye, at the sound of the trumpet, he has changed. He is as we shall be one day. A bodily resurrection but not in the same physical sense of flesh and bone, cellulite and gray hair, nearsightedness and bad hearing. It is a spiritual body, a glimpse of our future hope.
Jesus continues, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." The Greek word for send is apostello, from which we get the word apostle. Literally, then, these men and all believers after them have a new title: Apostle, a title that describes not only who we are but what we are called to do. We are the sent out ones. We are apostles of Jesus Christ.
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."
-- John 20:22-23
He breathed on them. There are stories long ago from the Eastern Orthodox Church. They believed at one point that the breath of a holy man had power and life. So, for the ordination of priests, they would collect the breath of the patriarch, the person equivalent to the western pope, into a bag, bring the bag to the place of ordination, and let it loose. The breath of a holy man transformed old into new. It brought life.
Where else have you heard about the breath of one bringing new life to another? Remember? When God made Adam, he shaped him in the clay, molded him into the perfect and then, gently, did what... God breathed into Adam's nostrils and gave him life.
Likewise, Jesus molded these apostles who were dead to sin into just the form he wanted and then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." It is a re-creation story. He gave them life, centered on the forgiveness of sins.
Do you see what John is doing? This is the creation story retold. It is a new creation. A re-creation. To accent this new creation story, Jesus said, "Peace be with you." Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, does not mean a hope that things are going well. Shalom has a deeper meaning of harmony. God and the world living together in peace the way it was in the Garden of Eden before the fall. With the resurrection of Jesus and his appearance on this eighth day, that chasm of sin and death separating the Creator from creation, has now come together -- and there is peace. Finally.
Who is Jesus? Make no mistake. John said he was there in the beginning creating all things with God. And once again, he appears, recreating, restoring, renewing in this second creation story. And again, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
-- John 20:24-25
There are those who will be forever known for one aspect of their life. Judas, the betrayer. Benedict Arnold, the traitor. George Washington, first president. Abraham Lincoln, freer of slaves. Thomas, the doubter. These are names and titles that can never be shaken.
John makes it clear that Thomas isn't sitting on the fence, still trying to decide. He is adamant. In fact, he doesn't just want to see Jesus, he wants to do more. The translation says he wants to touch the wounds but that makes us think that he wants to piously brush the nail marks and wonder at the mystery of the resurrection. The Greek word John used was ballo, a word that means to toss, like you toss a ball or thrust a javelin. A better translation of this that captures the intensity would be: "Unless I see the mark of the nails, stick my fingers in the mark of the nails and thrust my hand deep into that gaping wound I saw on his side, there is absolutely no way I will ever believe. Period. Dead is dead."
To say that Thomas doubted is putting it mildly.
A week later, his disciples were gain in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God."
-- John 20:26-28
Oops! John went and gave away the secret. Who is Jesus? The ultimate answer falls on the lips of this cynic named Thomas who drops to his knees and proclaims, "My Lord and my God." A journey from doubt to faith.
Legend has it that Thomas left that upper room and eventually ended up in India to preach the message about the risen Lord. The one who was once a skeptic brought the message to doubters. The one who would not believe until he saw Jesus preached to those who did not have the opportunity to see and touch. The one who wasn't willing to believe simply on the testimony of others, eventually was put to death in India because of his testimony.
From the meager beginning of an upper room, heavy with sorry, guilt, and doubt began a church based solely on the testimony of skeptics transformed into believers. They were sent out with that profound testimony of who Jesus is: "My Lord and my God." With that message spoken on the lips of the doubter, John brings his gospel full circle and returns his reader to his first chapter where he wrote.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
Who is Jesus? John knows. The disciples know. Even Thomas figured it out. But the question is not longer, "Do the disciples know?" The question is, "Do you know?" We are the ones for whom John wrote. We are the ones whom Jesus called blessed because we have not seen and yet believe. We are the ones whom John wants to lead out of the darkness of doubt and into the fullness of faith.
Who is Jesus? This is not some whodunit flick. John isn't writing about some caped crusader. There isn't some mystery to figure out. He lays it out there on the table. Better yet, he plops it on our laps and points that unavoidable finger into our souls and says, "I know. The disciples know. Do you?"
ILLUSTRATIONS
In our epistle text today, Peter writes to encourage Christians who are suffering because of their faith. Building on this, Martin Luther urges us to see our suffering and our afflictions and all the things that trouble us as things that, with our Lord's help, can ultimately lead to good, for us and for others. Luther writes:
So in our suffering we should so act that we give our greatest attention to the promise, in order that our cross and affliction may be turned to good, to something which we could never have asked or thought.
And this is precisely the thing which makes a difference between the Christian's suffering and afflictions and those of all other people. For they also have their afflictions, cross, and misfortune, just as they also have their times when they can sit in the rose garden and employ their good fortune and their goods as they please.
But when they run into affliction and suffering, they have nothing to comfort them, for they do not have the mighty promises and confidence in God which Christians have. Therefore they cannot comfort themselves with the assurance that God will help them to bear the affliction, much less can they count on it that he will turn their affliction and suffering to good.
-- Martin Luther, "Sermon on Cross and Suffering," Luther's Works (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975) pp. 200-201
* * *
God does not keep [us] immune from trouble; God says, "I will be with [you] in trouble." It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of [our] life, not one of them can separate [us] from [our] relationship to God.
"We are more than conquerors in all these things." Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says that we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ.
Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you. Some extraordinary thing happens to a [person] who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Only one thing can account for it -- the love of God in Christ Jesus.
-- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour, 2000) p. 140
* * *
It was not just Thomas who had difficulty believing that Jesus really was raised from the dead that first Easter morning. Listen to the words of a contemporary poet:
It was not just Thomas
who found it difficult
to believe in you, Jesus.
After you walked out of the tomb,
you talked with Mary Magdalene --
and she hurried to tell
your sorrowing followers.
But they would not believe her.
Nor would they believe the two
who hurried back to Jerusalem
to report that you had walked with them
and broken bread with them.
You had to go yourself
to where these followers were gathered
so that they would know
that you are truly the holy one of God.
To where we are gathered,
come now, Jesus.
-- Barbara Jurgensen, Following You (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990) p.37
* * *
There is an old Zen story about the son of an emperor, who had a difficult time controlling his anger. His tutor, Jato, knowing that the emperor was worried that his son might not be able to display the restraint necessary to govern wisely, took action one day. He dragged the boy, in the midst of one of his tantrums, over to a flowering bush and thrust the prince's hand into the midst of a cluster of bees. Predictably, one of the bees stung him.
"I'm going to tell my father," shouted red-faced boy.
"When you tell your father," said Jato, "tell him this..."
"Tell him what?"
"Look at the bee."
The boy looked at the bee, and saw how it was writhing in its death-throes, its abdomen torn open by the loss of its stinger. Silently, the two of them watched it until it stopped moving.
"That," said the teacher, in a voice calm yet kind, "is the price of anger."
It is said that the boy, when he finally became emperor, was known for his calm demeanor and quiet judgment.
* * *
Whoever loves true prayer and yet becomes angry or resentful is his own enemy. He is like a man who wants to see clearly and yet inflicts damage on his own eyes.
-- Evgarius the Solitary, Treatise on Prayer, 64
* * *
One Sunday, I put on one of the few clean jackets I had, and went over to Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street on the South Side of Chicago. And I heard Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright deliver a sermon called "The Audacity of Hope." And during the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him. And in time, I came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life.
It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn't fall out in church, as folks sometimes do. The questions I had didn't magically disappear. The skeptical bent of my mind didn't suddenly vanish. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God's Spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out His works.
-- Barack Obama, "A Politics of Conscience"
* * *
Suppose you held a glass of liquid as you walked toward me, and I carelessly or deliberately reached out and bumped you. Whatever you carried inside that glass would spill out. That is the way our lives are. When we are bumped, whatever is inside comes out.
That is why being filled with the Spirit on a continual basis is so important. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Bump that kind of person and you will get the personality of Jesus....
When I find a "Christian" who is unkind, or critical, I know I am ministering to someone who has been bumped: and what they are spilling out is the content of a life lacking the Spirit's presence.
The Holy Spirit is not filled with hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, faction, or envy. The Lord has given us very clear direction on how we are to respond to the person who has injured us. Our human reaction is to retaliate, blame, and feel self-pity. All these emotions while understandable, lead us down dead-end streets. In yielding to them we permit ourselves to become victims rather than victors.
-- George O. Wood, "How Do You Handle an Injustice?"
* * *
"Peace be with you," says Jesus. Literally, it was "Shalom."
Although "Shalom" is the daily greeting of neighbor to neighbor among the Jewish people, it means so much more than that. "Shalom" means not only peace, but also wholeness, and healing, and freedom. A person who's enjoying shalom is experiencing not merely the absence of conflict, but a deep and perfect inner peace, a tranquility of heart and mind and soul.
You would think that a people who speak peace to one another on such a regular basis would have no difficulty making peace, but the history of the nation of Israel demonstrates otherwise. That nation has been embroiled in almost constant warfare since the day of its founding.
Perhaps the biggest irony, though, is this. Both the Arabs and the Palestinians, who are Israel's chief antagonists, also have a traditional greeting. It is "Salaam."
Its meaning? "Peace." "Salaam" and "Shalom" are essentially the same word.
* * *
The world will never have lasting peace so long as [people] reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
-- John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Eisenhower
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call To Worship
Leader: Come, let all who would know the Lord gather, this day, for worship!
People: But we are a people with many doubts and fears.
Leader: Yet the Lord calls to each of us, leading us on to faith.
People: Then God will not reject us if we share the doubts in our hearts?
Leader: All who come seeking Christ with open hearts will know God's love.
People: Blessed be the name of the Lord!
-- James R. Wilson, Lectionary Worship Aids, Series IV, Cycle A (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing, 1995), p. 96
Call To Confession
How quickly we forget that we are an Easter people, raised up out of the ways of death into fullness of life. The power of death leaves us shaken and afraid, but God in Christ calls us out of our fear to experience a presence that embraces us with eternal hope. We confess now all that keeps us from accepting the gift of the Holy Spirit.
-- Lavon Bayler, Taught By Love: Worship Resources for Year A (United Church Press, 1998), p. 88
Prayer of Confession
Almighty and all-merciful God,
we confess before you that we have sinned.
With our mouths we call you "Lord,"
while with our actions we demonstrate how limited is our trust.
We have given in to doubt and anxiety;
we have gone along with the ridicule of those who are different;
we have tolerated dishonesty in our midst.
We have not sought out the things that make for peace.
Forgive us, O Lord;
by the power of your son Jesus, raise us to new life. Amen.
Offertory Prayer
We rejoice in the inheritance you have given us, O God, and delight in sharing it with others. You have given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You have touched our lives with eternity, with indescribable and glorious joy. We want others to experience what we have begun to realize in company with one another and with you. To that end, bless all the offerings of this day. Amen.
Benediction
A Franciscan Blessing
May God bless us with discomfort...
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
so that we may live deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with anger...
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that we may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless us with tears...
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless us with enough foolishness...
to believe that we can make a difference in this world,
so that we can do what others claim cannot be done.
-- Anonymous
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Believe
Object: a mallet, some antique nails
John 20:19-31
So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe" (v. 25).
Good morning, boys and girls. It was a funny but wonderful feeling. It was different than anything else that had ever happened to the disciples of Jesus. It was still Easter Day but it was evening and the disciples were hiding in the same room where they had shared the Passover with Jesus. They had talked about the empty tomb. They repeated the things that Peter and John had discovered when they ran to the place where Jesus had been buried. They could not forget Mary Magdalene's experiences where she actually saw Jesus and spoke with him. How was it possible? They saw him die on the cross. They watched the soldier spear his side. The word was out that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had buried him with their own hands in the tomb with the huge rock covering the entrance. They were back in the room knowing that it was only a few minutes or hours before the soldiers would come and arrest them. They locked the doors and shut all of the windows.
While they were talking in low voices they heard someone say, "Peace be with you." Someone was standing there and talking to them. It was Jesus. He showed them his hands and his side and repeated the words, "Peace be with you." The disciples jumped up and grabbed each other with tears of joy running down their faces. It really was Jesus!
Some of them walked over to Jesus and looked at the holes that were made when the soldiers hammered the nails into Jesus' hands and feet. (show them the mallet and the antique nails) They remembered how Mary and John told them about the nails on the hill when Jesus was crucified. It was awful. It was bad, the worst that they had ever heard of in all the years that they lived.
But Jesus was really back and no one was happier than each of the disciples. Thomas was not there and would not be there for several days. The disciples told him about how Jesus came right through the door without opening it and how he showed them the nails and the wound of the spear. But Thomas said he would not believe it until he could put his finger on the holes made by the nails and the spear.
A week later, when Thomas was with the other disciples, Jesus did it again. He just appeared and showed Thomas the holes. Thomas was flabbergasted but he believed. He really believed.
The next time you see some nails and a big hammer maybe you will think about the time Jesus showed up and gave everyone there a look at his hands, side, and feet. You, too, will be amazed. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, March 30, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 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 permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
