A Realistic Example

Sermon preached Sunday, April 16, 2023, the Second Sunday of Easter, at Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in North Chesterfield, VA. 

It’s no secret that most, if not all of the images we see advertisements are the result of Photoshop. It seems like every week or so there is some expose article floating around about this company’s Photoshop fail or that celebrity’s “untouched” picture being released. Someone is always doing something to make someone look better.

Sometimes it can be egregious, like making a woman’s waist impossibly tiny or putting arms at unnatural angles. Other times it’s pretty harmless. I can remember taking my senior pictures for high school and having them airbrushed to remove some pretty embarrassing acne. For good or for ill, these sorts of alterations happen.

And there is debate about just how good or ill they are. Some people say that all sorts of digital adjustments are fine in the media. After all, these companies are trying to sell something; they are presenting an ideal for everyday people to aspire to. The models aren’t supposed to look ordinary—it’s their job to be extraordinary!

The other camp argues that these representations can be dangerous. They keep people from having a reasonable perspective on their abilities or bodies. Companies should use models representative of the population, not a tiny minority. We should have realistic models. Representative models.

When we are looking for models and examples for our spiritual lives, we often turn to scripture. Regardless of what camp you may belong to when it comes to our secular culture, when we look at the Bible, it seems we are given nothing but “realistic models.” In the Old Testament, there are stories like the time Abraham lied and passed his wife Sarah off as his sister, or when King David pursued Bathsheba despite her being another man’s wife. The New Testament isn’t all the much better. The disciples as a whole tend to misunderstand what Jesus tries to teach them. Judas hands Jesus over to the authorities and Peter denies that he ever even knew him.

And then we have today’s story about Thomas, who was called the Twin, but who we so often refer to as “The Doubter.” Thomas is one of the most realistic models we have. He doubts what he hasn’t seen for himself. The other disciples had all been able to witness Jesus’ resurrection for themselves when he appeared in the room. Thomas just wanted that same tangible sign.

We’re often the same. We have trouble believing in things we haven’t experienced for ourselves. When we are young, we learn about the five senses. We learn to explore things with our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. We use those senses to decipher the world around us, to determine what is real and what isn’t. The trouble is, faith in God can’t rely only on those senses.

Our experiences with God come in lots of other ways. We may feel God’s love and presence in the relationships we have with other people. Or we may feel it in times of peace and tranquility. Or while experiencing and exploring nature. Or we may be overwhelmed by it during an exceptionally spiritual experience brought on through music, meditation, prayer, or worship.

But sometimes we, like Thomas, seek harder evidence. We look for those more concrete signs. We are hungry for things that we can point to and say, “There! There is God!”—because it’s hard to maintain faith without them. We can find ourselves, like Thomas, having doubts and struggling to believe.

And then, in today’s Gospel story Jesus proclaims, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Those are kind of discouraging words, aren’t they? We can take them to mean that Thomas is somehow “less-than” for not trusting fully in the other disciples’ account. We may begin to see Thomas as a bad example, a bad model for us because he doubted. We may begin to equate doubting with not being a good Christian.

Jesus does say, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe…” The unspoken phrase that we tend to assume follows is, “Woe to those have to see to believe.” But that’s not what Jesus intends. Jesus doesn’t speak words of woe to Thomas. He lifts up and blesses those who have faith in the resurrection without proof, but he does not condemn the doubters.

Thomas is not a bad example for us. Despite his doubts and concerns, he still boldly proclaims Jesus’ identity: “My Lord and my God!” He recognizes the fully divine nature of Christ. He remains with the other disciples as Jesus continues to perform miracles and teach. And then, like the others, after the ascension he is sent out into the world to proclaim the Gospel.

I’ll say it again: Thomas is not a bad example. Rather, he is a realistic model. Even though he has his time of uncertainty, he was still a faithful disciple. He still spread the word of God. God still worked through him. Though he doubted, Jesus still came to him. God can and does still work through all of us. Our loving Creator doesn’t abandon us, even when we aren’t so sure of it all.

And God has provided us with at least two visible and physical signs: our sacraments, baptism and Holy Communion. There are two parts that make up a sacrament: it is commanded by Christ and uses a material or earthly element. Through connection with the Word, is the bearer of God’s promise. The elements of water, wine and bread give us something physical through which we can experience God’s grace.

Through the water that washes us in baptism, we to die to sin and rise to new life in Christ, and we are also reminded that we are beloved children of God. Bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ in Communion, nourish and sustain us and are signs that point to the love of God shown in Christ’s death and resurrection.

Yes, doubts are real. They happen. We have periods of feeling disconnected from God. But the good news today and every day is that God is never disconnected from us. Sometimes we feel that divine presence strongly, other times it may be less noticeable, but God is there. In water, in bread and wine, in the Word, God has given us things we can see, taste, smell, hear and feel.

Our “realistic model,” Thomas, shows us that doubts do not keep us from God’s presence. They do not preclude us from seeing the signs and miraculous works God can do. They do not cause us to be shut out of the community of believers. Jesus came to Thomas and Jesus comes to us, embracing us in times of both faith and trust and in times of uncertainty and wavering belief.

Amen.

Thomas: A Realistic Model

Sermon preached Sunday, April 11, 2021, the Second Sunday of Easter, at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Littlestown, PA. 

It’s no secret that most, if not all of the images we see advertisements are the result of Photoshop. It seems like every week or so there is some expose article floating around about this company’s Photoshop fail or that celebrity’s “untouched” picture being released. Someone is always doing something to make someone look better.

Sometimes it can be egregious, like making a woman’s waist impossibly tiny or putting arms at unnatural angles. Other times it’s pretty harmless. I can remember taking my senior pictures for high school and having them airbrushed to remove some pretty embarrassing acne. For good or for ill, these sorts of alterations happen.

And there is debate about just how good or ill they are. Some people say that all sorts of digital adjustments are fine in the media. After all, these companies are trying to sell something; they are presenting an ideal for everyday people to aspire to. The models aren’t supposed to look ordinary—it’s their job to be extraordinary!

The other camp argues that these representations can be dangerous. They keep people from having a reasonable perspective on their abilities or bodies. Companies should use models representative of the population, not a tiny minority. We should have realistic models.

When we are looking for models and examples for our spiritual lives, we often turn to scripture. Regardless of what camp you may belong to when it comes to our secular culture, when we look at the Bible, it seems we are given nothing but “realistic models.” In the Old Testament, there are stories like the time Abraham lied and passed his wife Sarah off as his sister, or when King David pursued Bathsheba despite her being another man’s wife. The New Testament isn’t all the much better. The disciples as a whole tend to misunderstand what Jesus tries to teach them. Judas hands Jesus over to the authorities and Peter denies that he ever even knew him.

And then we have today’s story about Thomas, who was called the Twin, but who we so often refer to as “The Doubter.” Thomas is one of the most realistic models we have. He doubts what he hasn’t seen for himself. The other disciples had all been able to witness Jesus’ resurrection for themselves when he appeared in the room. Thomas just wanted that same tangible sign.

We’re often the same. We have trouble believing in things we haven’t experienced for ourselves. When we are young, we learn about the five senses. We learn to explore things with our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. We use those senses to decipher the world around us, to determine what is real and what isn’t. The trouble is, faith in God can’t rely only on those senses.

Our experiences with God come in lots of other ways. We may feel God’s love and presence in the relationships we have with other people. Or we may feel it in times of peace and tranquility. Or while experiencing and exploring nature. Or we may be overwhelmed by it during an exceptionally spiritual experience brought on through music, meditation, prayer, or worship.

But sometimes we, like Thomas, seek harder evidence. We look for those more concrete signs. We are hungry for things that we can point to and say, “There! There is God!”—because it’s hard to maintain faith without them. We can find ourselves, like Thomas, having doubts and struggling to believe.

And then, in today’s Gospel story Jesus proclaims, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Those are kind of discouraging words, aren’t they? We can take them to mean that Thomas is somehow “less-than” for not trusting fully in the other disciples’ account. We may begin to see Thomas as a bad example, a bad model for us because he doubted. We may begin to equate doubting with not being a good Christian.

Jesus does say, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe…” The unspoken phrase that we tend to assume follows is, “Woe to those have to see to believe.” But that’s what Jesus intends. Jesus doesn’t speak words of woe to Thomas. He lifts up and blesses those who have faith in the resurrection without proof, but he does not condemn the doubters.

Thomas is not a bad example for us. Despite his doubts and concerns, he still boldly proclaims Jesus’ identity: “My Lord and my God!” He recognizes the fully divine nature of Christ. He remains with the other disciples as Jesus continues to perform miracles and teach. And then, like the others, after the ascension he is sent out into the world to proclaim the Gospel.

I’ll say it again: Thomas is not a bad example. Rather, he is a realistic model. Even though he has his time of uncertainty, he was still a faithful disciple. He still spread the word of God. God still worked through him. Though he doubted, Jesus still came to him. God can and does still work through all of us. Our loving Creator doesn’t abandon us, even when we aren’t so sure of it all.

And God has provided us with at least two visible and physical signs: our sacraments, baptism and Holy Communion. There are two parts that make up a sacrament: it is commanded by Christ and uses a material or earthly element. Through connection with the Word, is the bearer of God’s promise. The elements of water, wine and bread give us something physical through which we can experience God’s grace.

Through the water that washes us in baptism, we to die to sin and rise to new life in Christ, and we are also reminded that we are beloved children of God. Bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ in Communion, nourish and sustain us and are signs that point to the love of God shown in Christ’s death and resurrection.

Yes, doubts are real. They happen. We have periods of feeling disconnected from God. But the good news today and every day is that God is never disconnected from us. Sometimes we feel that divine presence strongly, other times it may be less noticeable, but God is there. In water, in bread and wine, in the Word, God has given us things we can see, taste, smell, hear and feel.

Our “realistic model,” Thomas, shows us that doubts do not keep us from God’s presence. They do not preclude us from seeing the signs and miraculous works God can do. They do not cause us to be shut out of the community of believers. Jesus came to Thomas and Jesus comes to us, embracing us in times of both faith and trust and in times of uncertainty and wavering belief.

Amen.

What Will This Time Reveal?

Sermon preached Sunday, April 19, 2020, the Second Sunday of Easter, from my home in Gettysburg, PA, due to the COVID-19 Stay at Home order.

This is one of those recurring Sundays that you can always count on. No matter what, the Gospel reading on the Sunday after Easter, the Second Sunday in the Easter Season, will be the story of Thomas wanting to touch Jesus’ wounds before he will believe in the resurrection.

It is equal parts comforting and unexciting, at least to me. It is comforting because, in this time of upheaval, we can always count on those familiar texts that we have heard year after year. But to my mind it is also a little unexciting. I craved something different this time.

Luckily, I remembered this cool little thing called the REST OF THE READINGS!

And as I read through and discussed these readings with other pastors in our weekly text study, I felt like I was smacked in the face with the reading from First Peter.

This letter states: “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, ⁷so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)

In this midst of this large trial, the pandemic as a whole, we are all also facing lots of smaller trials: the events that have been cancelled; the loved ones we haven’t been able to see in person; the mundane rituals that made up our lives that have now been altered or removed from our lives completely. When we start to catalog all the ways in which our lives have changed, it’s hard to stop. But to simply name “coronavirus” and stop there doesn’t quite capture it.

This epistle assures us that the trials we face can result in “praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

This doesn’t mean that we are being tested. God is not punishing us or trying to see how faithful we are. …but that doesn’t mean that our faith won’t increase through this. That doesn’t mean that we won’t come out the other side having a deeper relationship with God. …but any instance of that is a happy result—not some motivating factor of God’s.

What if the trials we are facing now reveal new truths? New truths about us? New truths about our relationships? New truths about our world? New truths about God?

If there is one thing that is evident now, it’s how many of us tend to live on the brink of disaster. One, or maybe two, paychecks away from not being able to pay bills or buy groceries. What does that say about the kind of communities and lifestyle we encourage? What does it say when someone who works full-time still doesn’t have enough leftover after a rent payment and utilities and groceries to put something away?

And it’s also evident that we can be church in new and different ways. Given our druthers, I’m sure most of us would prefer to be back in the sanctuary. I miss it. I miss all of you! I look forward to when I can see you in person again! But at the same time, we’ve found ways to connect online, through the mail, through phone calls, to an extent we didn’t do when we were meeting for worship in person. What does that mean? How can we continue to explore and embrace technology and new ways of being church together?

And it’s evident that we are dependent on one another. I suppose perhaps a survivalist could make it through, or at least try, on their own. But for the rest of us? We are dependent on farmers, food producers and manufacturers, and distributors. We are dependent on the people who must keep working so that we can continue to buy groceries or medicine or gas. We are dependent on our hospital staff, both medical and otherwise. Where would we be without the folks who do the laundry or who clean every imaginable surface?

And, finally, it is evident that God is still with us and that the Risen Christ still meets us in our anxieties and fears.

In that locked room, Jesus came to the scared disciples, breathed on them, and gave them his peace. The next week, he arrived again, giving Thomas a chance to see and feel his scars. In that uncertain time, Christ was present.

And in this uncertain time, with advice and numbers and expectations changing every day, God is present with us, holding us together and bringing us peace. God stays, in the words of First Peter, “unfading.” God’s presence is just as rich and tangible as it has ever been.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

We Have Seen the Lord

Sermon preached Sunday, April 8, 2018, the Second Sunday of Easter, at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Littlestown, PA.

Easter is still going. Target’s Easter decorations have been pretty well cleared out and what’s left is forming an ever-shrinking Clearance aisle. The candy CVS had piled up on shelves just a week ago is now gone, or incredibly marked down. People with too many marshmallow peeps are trying to find a way to get rid of them without actually having to eat them.

Despite the fact that so much of the world has moved on already, Easter for us Christians is still going. It’ll keep going, in fact, for fifty days, seven Sundays. Easter is still going. I think that’s pretty clear here: we still have our white paraments up, our songs are full of alleluias and our Gospel reading is an account of Jesus’ actions after the resurrection. It’s still Easter!

The Gospel story we heard this morning—the story of Thomas—is always appointed for the second Sunday of Easter. Every year, seven days after we hear the account of the early tomb at dawn, we hear about disciples hiding out and Thomas who only wants to see his Lord’s wounds like his friends did. Every year, we hear about how people have trouble believing the news of the resurrected Christ.

For the early followers of Jesus, it’s all about believing the stories that are told and shared by others. Funny, then, that it seems as though no one does! Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb while it was still dark. She was the first to see that stone had been removed and that Jesus’ body was gone. She told two of the disciples, but they left as soon as they found the tomb empty. Mary stayed, though. She stayed and came face-to-face with the risen Christ. She left that place and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!”…but no one believed her.

No one believed her and in the evening of that same day, the disciples were sitting locked in a room, afraid that they would soon die like Jesus did. They didn’t believe what Mary Magdalene had told them. They were more concerned with their own safety. All of a sudden, Jesus appeared to them. When Thomas arrived later, the disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” …but Thomas didn’t believe them.

Finally, Thomas is in the room with his friends and Jesus appeared. Jesus showed his wounds and Thomas believed in the resurrection. “My Lord and my God,” Thomas says, a remarkable confession of faith.

“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Belief is a tricky concept. We tend to equate believe with a certain set of dogmatic principles or theological ideas. To “believe” something or to believe in something is to assent to it, to assert it as truth. In the Gospel of John, though, the Gospel writer seems to have something different in mind what talking about belief.

For John, our evangelist, belief is all about relationship. To believe in God isn’t to have a set of theological ideas that you agree to, but to have a relationship with God. Believing in the Gospel of John comes through engaging Jesus and building a relationship with him. In the story of the man born blind, the man gets to know Jesus, learns who he is, has a deep encounter with him and so, by the time his sight is restored, he believes because of the experience and relationship, not just because of his vision.

The woman at the well earlier in the Gospel of John wants nothing to do with Jesus when she first encounters him—she’s just trying to do her chores. But they have a conversation, a connection, and she believes, telling others that he had told her everything she had ever done.

Even after the resurrection, people are only believing because of their relationship with Christ. Mary thinks that Jesus is the gardener until he calls her name and she recognizes him as her Lord. The disciples are frightened and guarded and don’t trust in Mary’s testimony, but when Jesus comes to be among them to talk to them and be present to them, they believe. Thomas, likewise, is not concerned with the story the disciples tell him, but when Jesus appears and shows his wounds, Thomas is able to see and touch and believe.

Jesus says to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” It sounds like a condemnation of Thomas, but it’s actually really good news! “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Who are those people? All of us! The Christian witness for the last two thousand years or so has been mostly built on people who did not see Jesus in person, who did not touch the holey hands of the resurrected Christ, who did not see Christ ascend into heaven—yet still we have come to believe.

It comes down to how believing happens. The Gospel of John shows us that believing happens though relationship and connection and encounters…and God has still found ways to be present to us, to build relationships with us. And nowhere is this more clearly laid out than in worship.

Through scripture God’s word is proclaimed. We are reminded of the promises God has made to us and to all of humanity. We hear the stories of how God has already acted on behalf of God’s people. We join the psalmist in praise and lament, knowing and trusting that God will listen.

At the font we have water to remind us of God’s unbreakable relationship with us. As baptized children of God, we are claimed and named as God’s own. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God and the water there that we touch or is sprinkled on us helps us recall our true identity in Christ.

Together as the gathered assembly, we can practice the ways in which we can be the presence of God for other people. We pray together. We share peace with one another. We are forgiven, so that we might forgive others. We give offering for the sake of the world. All of these actions are done together, to remind us that sometimes the presence of God is in our presence and in our relationships with one another. God is often encountered in the way we love and embrace each other.

Finally, perhaps most vividly, God is present for us at the table in bread and wine. These earthly elements become for us the body and blood of Christ and there is no presence more deeply felt than that which we eat and drink.

Blessed are we who have not seen the physical wounds of Jesus, but have still “seen” the lord in so many different places. Because of the witness of the Gospel writer, because of the faithful saints who have passed their stories down through the centuries, because of the promises God has made to be present in sacraments and in our lives…because of these things, we have our own testimony to share. With the women at the tomb, with the disciples in the upper room, with Thomas, we can still say “We have seen the Lord.” Amen.