The Second Sunday of Easter Year AA sermon based on John 20:19-31
In the name of Jesus; Amen.
Thomas wasn’t the only one to doubt.
Friday night Hubby, the kids and I went to Atlantic City. The first church that Hubby served was St Andrew By-the-Sea in Atlantic City, NJ. It had once been a church that was right on the boardwalk set in between casinos, but they had dwindled in membership and needed money. After years of offers from Bally’s casino they finally agreed to sell their building and move to a different location.
When we arrived in Atlantic City the congregation was worshipping in a Moose Lodge. It was really something to have a bar in the make-shift sanctuary and a moose head hanging over the door which always wore a Santa hat at Christmas time.
Right out of seminary in 1998 my husband was called to literally build a church.
Now let me explain something to you about Atlantic City. If you are a casino you can do anything. The parking garage that Bally’s built over the spot that used to house the congregation of St Andrew By-the-Sea was up in no time. We used to drive down to the ocean and park in it for a flat fee of $2 a day. But build a church… that was a little harder of a task.
There were lawyers to deal with because of a special clause in the deed for the land the church was originally built on. Every effort had been made before we got there to find any descendants of the original owner because the church was always to use that land for the purpose of church and if they sold it they had to prove that the land was no longer suitable for having a church there.
Everything had been fine until a very distant relative came forward and sued the church for the money they had received from the sale of the land.
That was finally settled and an architect was hired when the city decided that it wanted the land that the church now owned to sell to McDonalds and threatened eminent domain and offered a trade which would have given the church marsh land to build on top of.
We lived with a full scale model of a church that we hoped and prayed would someday be built. It resided on the bed in our guest room or in the trunk of our car until Hubby negotiated space in an Episcopal church where we could worship and give him and the secretary office space.
In the meantime ministry had to go on and Hubby reminded them daily that a church was not a building, but the community that centered around faith in the risen Christ.
Hubby stayed at St Andrew’s for 4 years before he decided that he was burned out from the pressures of trying to fight what seemed like a battle which would never be won and needed to find another church to serve. When he left the congregation was still worshipping in the Episcopal Church and had formed a long-lasting bond with them. They had an interim for almost 2 years before calling another pastor who is serving them now.
Thomas wasn’t the only one who doubted.
In the upper room, probably the same room where they had eaten their last meal together, 11 men and some women tried to comfort one another behind locked doors. They had known the plan. Jesus was the Messiah, he had even told them that he was going to die and rise from the dead, but in the aftermath of the last few days they doubted that the hopes and dreams they once had would ever come true. Jesus was dead and now they knew his body was gone… disappeared from the grave; they feared that someone had taken it.
Even when Mary Magdalene had stood in front of them and told them that she had seen the Lord, they didn’t believe it. They were, all of them, filled with doubt.
Yesterday we stood in the church building that is now St Andrew-By-the-Sea as it was dedicated to God. It is a beautiful building and was filled by the community of people who had struggled for over 10 years to see it built. We worshipped together and at the end of the service one of the new stained glass windows was dedicated to the pastors who had served the congregation during its time in the wilderness. Hubby was one of them.
As we were driving home we talked about how Hubby had felt affirmed in all the work he had done there those years ago. He knew that he had worked hard and that he had helped build a foundation for ministry that eventually lead to the building of an actual church, but we both knew that he had to see it to believe it.
The disciples needed to see it too. They needed to see that all their work with Jesus had built a foundation for the building of the Church. They were burnt out and bone dry from the experience of Good Friday. They couldn’t move on beyond the locked doors of their room out into the open of the community they were called to serve.
Thomas wasn’t the only one who doubted; we all doubt.
We doubt our abilities, our callings, and even our faith. I used to believe that this story was told so that we knew that we were in good company when we had doubts. If the disciples doubted, then it’s ok if we doubt too. But I have a new notion now, that this story was told because Jesus loves us and wants us to see just how God works even when our hearts are broken, even when we are in the worst of grief, even when we are filled with doubt.
The introduction from the bulletin for this gospel reading says that Thomas’ “unbelief prompts another visit from the Lord.” I think that’s wrong. Jesus didn’t come back because Thomas doubted. Jesus came back because he loved Thomas.
Jesus came back because he loves us.
Yesterday was a gift. Seeing that church building and all the people in it was a gift of love from God. We were able to see with our own eyes and touch with our own hands the fruits of four years of labor. It was affirming; a “yes” to what God can do.
We don’t always get to see that kind of yes and many times we have to believe without seeing, to trust blindly that God does love us and that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. Sometimes we have to rely solely on the witness of others and we are blessed when we can do that.
But sometimes we do get to see. Sometimes we get to put our hands in the wounds of Christ and touch the resurrection, this seemingly impossible, doubtful thing because Jesus loves us and does not want to leave us in a place of doubt, but new life and affirmation.
Do not doubt, but believe; Jesus came back because he loves us.
Amen.
Thomas wasn’t the only one to doubt.
Friday night Hubby, the kids and I went to Atlantic City. The first church that Hubby served was St Andrew By-the-Sea in Atlantic City, NJ. It had once been a church that was right on the boardwalk set in between casinos, but they had dwindled in membership and needed money. After years of offers from Bally’s casino they finally agreed to sell their building and move to a different location.
When we arrived in Atlantic City the congregation was worshipping in a Moose Lodge. It was really something to have a bar in the make-shift sanctuary and a moose head hanging over the door which always wore a Santa hat at Christmas time.
Right out of seminary in 1998 my husband was called to literally build a church.
Now let me explain something to you about Atlantic City. If you are a casino you can do anything. The parking garage that Bally’s built over the spot that used to house the congregation of St Andrew By-the-Sea was up in no time. We used to drive down to the ocean and park in it for a flat fee of $2 a day. But build a church… that was a little harder of a task.
There were lawyers to deal with because of a special clause in the deed for the land the church was originally built on. Every effort had been made before we got there to find any descendants of the original owner because the church was always to use that land for the purpose of church and if they sold it they had to prove that the land was no longer suitable for having a church there.
Everything had been fine until a very distant relative came forward and sued the church for the money they had received from the sale of the land.
That was finally settled and an architect was hired when the city decided that it wanted the land that the church now owned to sell to McDonalds and threatened eminent domain and offered a trade which would have given the church marsh land to build on top of.
We lived with a full scale model of a church that we hoped and prayed would someday be built. It resided on the bed in our guest room or in the trunk of our car until Hubby negotiated space in an Episcopal church where we could worship and give him and the secretary office space.
In the meantime ministry had to go on and Hubby reminded them daily that a church was not a building, but the community that centered around faith in the risen Christ.
Hubby stayed at St Andrew’s for 4 years before he decided that he was burned out from the pressures of trying to fight what seemed like a battle which would never be won and needed to find another church to serve. When he left the congregation was still worshipping in the Episcopal Church and had formed a long-lasting bond with them. They had an interim for almost 2 years before calling another pastor who is serving them now.
Thomas wasn’t the only one who doubted.
In the upper room, probably the same room where they had eaten their last meal together, 11 men and some women tried to comfort one another behind locked doors. They had known the plan. Jesus was the Messiah, he had even told them that he was going to die and rise from the dead, but in the aftermath of the last few days they doubted that the hopes and dreams they once had would ever come true. Jesus was dead and now they knew his body was gone… disappeared from the grave; they feared that someone had taken it.
Even when Mary Magdalene had stood in front of them and told them that she had seen the Lord, they didn’t believe it. They were, all of them, filled with doubt.
Yesterday we stood in the church building that is now St Andrew-By-the-Sea as it was dedicated to God. It is a beautiful building and was filled by the community of people who had struggled for over 10 years to see it built. We worshipped together and at the end of the service one of the new stained glass windows was dedicated to the pastors who had served the congregation during its time in the wilderness. Hubby was one of them.
As we were driving home we talked about how Hubby had felt affirmed in all the work he had done there those years ago. He knew that he had worked hard and that he had helped build a foundation for ministry that eventually lead to the building of an actual church, but we both knew that he had to see it to believe it.
The disciples needed to see it too. They needed to see that all their work with Jesus had built a foundation for the building of the Church. They were burnt out and bone dry from the experience of Good Friday. They couldn’t move on beyond the locked doors of their room out into the open of the community they were called to serve.
Thomas wasn’t the only one who doubted; we all doubt.
We doubt our abilities, our callings, and even our faith. I used to believe that this story was told so that we knew that we were in good company when we had doubts. If the disciples doubted, then it’s ok if we doubt too. But I have a new notion now, that this story was told because Jesus loves us and wants us to see just how God works even when our hearts are broken, even when we are in the worst of grief, even when we are filled with doubt.
The introduction from the bulletin for this gospel reading says that Thomas’ “unbelief prompts another visit from the Lord.” I think that’s wrong. Jesus didn’t come back because Thomas doubted. Jesus came back because he loved Thomas.
Jesus came back because he loves us.
Yesterday was a gift. Seeing that church building and all the people in it was a gift of love from God. We were able to see with our own eyes and touch with our own hands the fruits of four years of labor. It was affirming; a “yes” to what God can do.
We don’t always get to see that kind of yes and many times we have to believe without seeing, to trust blindly that God does love us and that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. Sometimes we have to rely solely on the witness of others and we are blessed when we can do that.
But sometimes we do get to see. Sometimes we get to put our hands in the wounds of Christ and touch the resurrection, this seemingly impossible, doubtful thing because Jesus loves us and does not want to leave us in a place of doubt, but new life and affirmation.
Do not doubt, but believe; Jesus came back because he loves us.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment