EASTER 2C
April 15, 2007
- Acts 5:27-32. God's authority, not human authority, calls and
directs our mission in Jesus Christ.
- Psalm response: Psalm 150
- Revelation 1:4-8. In Christ we have been loved, freed from our
sins, and established as priests to God.
- John 20:19-31. Jesus appears to the disciples at a time when Thomas is not present, so Thomas doubts. He returns a week later and greets Thomas, and Thomas confesses "my Lord and my God."
-If we had only the first three Gospels, the only thing we would know about Thomas is his name - for that's all they tell us. So we have to look at the Gospel of John to get real insights into just who Thomas was.
-The Gospel of John uses the word "believe" 52 times. Our text for today tells the story of Thomas and his struggle for belief. His story is the story of every human.
-Different levels of faith: faith weak, faith strong, faith shallow and faith deep; faith growing and faith faltering, etc.
Craddock-Fear vs. Faith , Fosdick
Fear imprison, faith Liberates;
Fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Fear disheartens, faith encourages;
Fear sickens, faith heals;
Fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable;
Fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices in its God.
-This gathering is like a mini-Pentecost. The disciples cower in a locked room, and Jesus breathes on them, filling them with life and the power of the Holy Spirit.
- .... and blessed, too, are those who join with Thomas in the proclamation, "My Lord and my God." Jim Rice
- Another Beatitude: Happy are they who have not seen but still believe. John Pilch
- "We always have a backstage view of ourselves." We let the audience see only the neatly arranged stage. But behind the curtain all kinds of things are lying around: old failures, hurts, guilt and shame. Perhaps this was so with those disciples huddled together in the locked room that night. Garrison Keillor
- Maybe today it is harder for us to take things on faith because we are so good at finding tangible - or at least scientific - proof for so many things. We can prove so much with our God-given minds - why not prove God? Prove Jesus? What do you believe without proof? Can you prove someone's love for you or yours for them? We try, but in the end, we just must trust. Rev. Beth Quick
-Faith is to believe what we do not see and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. St. Augustine
-"Thomas" is the Hebrew word for "twin." He is also called "Didymus," which is the Greek word for "twin."
-Belief is easy, faith or trust in God is much more difficult. Lindy
-We need to doubt until we are able to doubt our doubts. Fosdick
-Belief and doubt is the yin-yang of many a Christian’s life
-Thomas is a patron saint for those of us who are trying to live a critical faith. He is not satisfied with other people's accounts: he wants to know by experience.
- Do we really want faith without doubt?
- Make your questions and doubts lead you, like Thomas, to a greater faith.
-Beliefs become the set of sails that determine not only the direction of our lives and our destination, but also the quality of our journey. Mickey Anders
-Belief and doubt is the yin-yang of many a Christian’s life.
-Doubt is faith seeking to grow! Doubt is faith seeking understanding. You see, doubt is not a sign of a lack of faith. To the contrary, it
is evidence of how seriously you take your faith - so seriously that you are willing to ask questions, to raise doubts and follow them
up! Seek to answer and resolve them. Faith will use doubt to nourish and strengthen itself. Bass Mitchel
-"The best decision-makers are those who are willing to suffer the most over their decisions but still retain their ability to be
decisive." M. Scott Peck
QUOTES
- Jesus says, "Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20
- Believing is the beginning of doctrine. Mickey Anders
- Not What I do believe But Whom! Not What, but Whom!" John Oxenham (see full poem in Illustrations)
- Every religion that does not affirm that God is hidden is not true Pascal.
-"Middleness is the very enemy of the bold." Charles Krauthammer, Time
HUMOR
- A pessimist is someone "who can look at the land of milk and honey and see only calories and cholesterol." Joe Gordon
- Man being baptized was put under for five seconds and then asked, "Did you see Him?" "No"
Put under for 10 seconds...."Did you see Him?" "No". Put under for twenty seconds. "Did you see Him now?" No but if you lost him, I'll keep looking.
-O God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul, so I can go to heaven, if there is a heaven.”
- Sesame street has Oscar the Grouch; Snow white has Grumpy. Peanuts have Lucy,
ILLUSTRATIONS
-Abram believed what God told him, staked his life on it, packed up his family and moved to the land of Canaan. And so began the great adventure of believing.
- "Not What But Whom." John Oxenham
In times like these, it seems
even more important.
"Not What, but Whom I do believe
That in my darkest hour of need,
Hath comfort, that no mortal creed
To mortal man may give,
Not What I do believe
But Whom! Not What, but Whom!"
-As the Allies moved through Germany at the end of World War II,
searching farms and houses for snipers, searchers found these words
on the wall of a cellar in Cologne, where Jews had been hiding from
the Nazis:
I believe.
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.
I believe in love even when feeling it not.
I believe in God even when God is silent.
CHILDREN
-When your stomach growls, it's calling for food. So you feed it.Doubts, questions are the growls of the soul for spiritual food, for
nourishment. They can stimulate us to seek food, to seek answers, you see, to seek to resolve those doubts. And when we do that,
chances are we are going to grow.
- Talk about yin and yang. (That all things have an opposite) Remind children that doubt isn't bad but a necessary part of belief.
Lindy
PRAYER PHRASES
-Help us to grow, Lord, in our faith, even if it takes doubts and questions to do that. We thank you that you welcome them, you use
them for our good. We are so glad that we can come to you just as we are, doubts, fears, failures and all, and find in you ready welcome
and help. Bass Mitchel
"If you haven't seen http://www.textweek.com/ you're missing a great resource for ministers."
TRY http://www.textweek.com/ YOU'LL LOVE IT!!!
home