1 Peter 1: 3-9
John 20: 19-31
April 16, 2023
Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell III
“Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
Prayer: Holy God of life and new life, help us grow in our belief. Amen.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! And all the people said, “Amen!” AMEN!
Christ is risen! CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED! Yay! One week later, you remembered from last Sunday!
You know, one of the things that makes me mad is that so often we live with a limelight mentality. I mean when something is in the lime light, we focus on it. But as soon as its out of the limelight, it fades into the background pretty quickly.
So last Sunday, we celebrated Easter. We shouted “Christ is Risen” with enthusiasm. I mean we had trumpets! We touted our faith that the darkness of death still wasn’t dark enough for resurrection’s light. That Christ helps us see in the darkness of the graves we find ourselves in sometimes. Did I mention that we had trumpets?
But I know some of you are thinking “that was so last week. C’mon, Dr. G. Easter is over already. Move on!” Half of you are not here this Sunday. Maybe you’re online. It’s one of the lowest attended Sundays of the year. The Sunday after Easter.
But you know what? Easter is not over! It’s never behind us. Because God’s resurrection power still is at work! Because God is still shedding light into our tombs, still rolling stones away. Helping us see in the dark.
And did you know that Easter is a season of fifty days! Not a one day thing. We call it Eastertide. So, we celebrate the joy of Christ being alive right up to the day when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit that Christ promised. The day of Pentecost! As we in the UCC are fond of saying, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma. God is Stillspeaking,” with a comma on the end of that phrase. So, resurrection continues!
All that is because we know how the Easter story turned out. But transport yourselves back in time to the moment the disciples first encountered the risen Christ. There weren’t any trumpets. No shouts of Christ is risen. Nope. Just the horror and grief of all that had happened. Tragic torture, 2 trials, crucifixion, death, burial.
And that first Easter evening, the disciples were so terrified that they locked the doors of the Upper Room where they last met with Jesus. They were fearful that they were the next ones to be arrested, since they were part of the movement that Jesus started. They figured his death and crucifixion would likely would be their fate as well. So they closed the doors trying to keep out any hostile threats, fearing repercussions for their faith. Period.
But the resurrected Jesus showed up! He entered the place behind the doors they closed. He showed up in their turmoil. He showed up and gave them evidence that he is alive. For them, they saw Jesus and believed. Seeing is believing. And Jesus gave them his peace. Which is the peace of God. The peace that passes all understanding. And he breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. His Spirit. Which is God’s Spirit. And so, Jesus, being alive, changed that period to a comma, because there was more to come.
Most of them got all that anyway. But not Thomas. He wasn’t with them that first Easter. But, a week later, Thomas was there. Now Thomas for sure was a ‘seeing is believing’ kind of guy, which can close doors to faith growth. He was sort of a negative nelson: “Unless I see the mark of the nails and the wound in his side, I will not believe.”
But again, one week later, Jesus showed up behind the doors they closed. And again Jesus gave them the blessing of his peace. Thomas sees Jesus and believes because he sees him. And Jesus is glad. But then Jesus blesses those who live with the idea that ‘believing is seeing.’
Who, of course, are the readers and listeners of Peter’s letter. I love words in the letter, “Although you have not seen him, you love him (that’s you and me); and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice (yes!) with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith—the salvation of our souls!” Praise God! That’s believing is seeing and, those words are certainly for all of us.
But here’s the thing about ‘believing is seeing.’ Having faith without physically seeing leads to the opening of doors we may have closed, or the world closed on us. And there are a lot of them! Like holding on to racism, or religism, or homophobia. Or like labeling people. Or like churches who say they’re welcoming, but then refuse to welcome people of the LGBTQ community into membership. These all close doors.
But faith in Christ means that Christ can come in behind those closed doors, into the places where we feel most vulnerable, where we feel stuck, or where we made poor decisions, and can transform us with his peace. With his presence. With his new life. When we’re trying to figure out what to do next, when we are uncertain, when you had a setback, trying to regroup, the good news is that with faith in Christ, we can receive his living spirit, and share in his resurrection, and experience the way Christ can open our doors. In our hearts. In our situations. Places that say God is still speaking.
So this past week I was looking for places where open doors reveal the Stillspeaking God’s voice. And I read an article about a Lutheran church in one of Norway’s northern islands that is adapting to a changing population. It’s actually the northern most church on the planet. It used to be only coal miners who lived there, but now many multi-national climatologists and short term tourism workers now live there. Among the people worshiping at this Lutheran church is a Hindu family with an 18-month old daughter. “God is God, it doesn’t matter which religion,” said the girl’s father, an environmental chemist. Pastor Siv Limstrand says this is the kind of church she wants to pastor, one that is shared, not guarded” (The Christian Century, “Artic Ministry,” April 2023 pg. 10). Doors are opening.
I also saw an ad on TV that captured my attention. I think you’ve seen it, too. It features a blue box on a black screen that takes up 2.4% of your screen, which surprisingly is the same size of the Jewish population in the United States. Yet Jewish people are victims of 55% of all hate crimes in our country. The blue square is part of a $25 million “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” campaign launched by Robert Kraft, the 81-year-old billionaire through his Foundation to Combat Antisemitism” (Blue square emoji symbolizes fight against antisemitism - JNS.org retrieved April 14, 2023). Christ is helping open our doors.
And, I was reminded this week that our sister church, Trinity United Church of Christ, Waynesboro, have several doors on the church’s front lawn, each one painted a color of the rainbow, and each one helping to make the phrase “Our Doors are Open to All.” The Holy Spirit is helping open our doors.
So, as we move into Eastertide, don’t assume that Easter is over, friends. Don’t figure that you know the end of the story. Because the gospel of John begs us to respond to Jesus’ resurrection story. Be surprised at how Christ is opening our doors where we may have lived with them closed. Be filled with wonder at how God is putting a comma where you might have put period behind your closed doors.
This is how the God of resurrection is wanting to be known all around us. It’s happening everywhere. Faith just lets us recognize the surprise of Jesus standing among us helping us to open our doors. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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