Finding God in the Unexpected

Jesus is risen! We continue the Easter season of celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  “We say Jesus IS risen.” We could say, “Jesus HAS risen,” and make a claim of a historical fact to place the event in the past. This is a true statement.  But the more powerful claim and the one that truly makes a difference to me and to you is that Jesus is alive and reigns as Lord of heaven and earth.  So we say Jesus IS risen to relate the truth of the present reality.

That Jesus who was born in Bethlehem and lived about 33 years and was crucified by the occupying Roman Empire was raised from the dead with an imperishable body and is now the head over all things.   Jesus is the fulfilment of the story of the people of Israel. In Jesus all people find the fulfilment of the story of God in this world. Jesus is the Messiah; Jesus is the son of God.

This is the truth that this church is built upon. This is what we believe.  That is the truth that we are to share so that believing, others may also have life in his name.

But this is difficult teaching. You can’t measure with any physical devise the presence of God in your life. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a something that would detect the presence of God in your life? 

Actually what would be more useful, would be something that would detect our attentiveness to God in our lives, because that is what really wavers and changes.  The fact is: if we had something that could measure the presence of God in this world the thing would be pegged at “maximum” all the time.

God’s glory fills the earth! The Kingdom of Heaven has come near! Jesus IS risen!

We are all at different places on our spiritual journey.  We all have different understandings of what it means to know God. In the Gospel lesson this morning, Thomas was in a different place physically and spiritually.

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." Scripture doesn’t record where Thomas was or why he wasn’t with them, for whatever reason he was not there when this happened. The gathered community of the followers of Jesus experienced his presence and received his blessing while one of their own was separated from the group.

Remember it had been quite a day. It was only the day before yesterday that they watched as their friend and teacher was nailed to a cross and died. And that morning they found out that his body was missing from the tomb.

It must have seemed that their world was crumbling. Everything that they invested their lives in was gone and it was getting worse. Where they thought they would find deliverance seemed now to be replaced by loss, and fear for their own lives.

One of the spiritual disciplines is solitude.  Learning to be alone in the silence with God is something that many spiritual seekers have sought after in their practice to grow spiritually.  For some the practice of solitude is a discipline that takes intentional effort.  For others of us it is a spiritual necessity. Perhaps Thomas was one of those that needed to be alone for a time to sort out what was happening. Whatever Thomas was doing, eventually he came back to the fellowship.

When he came back, he was met with some news.  Can you imagine?  He walks in the door and sees the other disciples who have just seen Jesus. They just heard Jesus say “Peace be with you."
"Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." "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." The disciples who saw Jesus die had this living encounter with him. They experienced death, they huddeled in that small space and they were given new life when Jesus visited them.

 What do you think their demeanor was?  What was the look on their faces?  What was the one of their voices when they told Thomas “We have seen the Lord.”?

Was Thomas convinced?

When God called me to the ministry it was a life changing event. I knew in that moment that my life would never be the same again whether I answered the call or not, because God made his presence known to me in a way that I had never experienced before or since. I was so excited. I wanted to tell everyone about God.  I started inviting people to read what I was reading, attend gatherings that I was attending trying to get people in a place where they could experience God the way I did. I noticed people, especially the ones that knew me best, pull back. I realized that the worlds coming out of my mouth were the same words that left me less than fully convinced before I surrendered myself to God and opened myself to His presence.

No matter how real it is. No matter how excited we are. There will be those who are unconvinced.  They will only be convinced when they experience God for themselves.  That won’t happen by our arguments.  That won’t happen by manipulating emotions.  It will happen when we welcome them into the fellowship of believers and God reveals himself to them.

A week later his disciples were again 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."

Jesus invited him to touch the wounds on his hands and in his side.  Thomas didn’t need to do that.  He just responded with the strongest profession of faith one could say, “My Lord and my God!"

The spiritual journey is not a linear path.  It is a process of living this life. The spiritual life is one that ebbs and flows.  It seems easy and light sometimes and other times is may seem baron and difficult.  We can thank and praise God that we have a community in which we can live out our spiritual journey.

Our purpose here at St. Paul is to know Christ and to make him known. There are a lot of people right outside those doors whose lives are in turmoil and turned upside down.  We are not going to convince them with our words that Jesus is their answer.  It won’t be our building or our programming that will give them life. But if we can surround them with the love of God through our fellowship Jesus will reveal to them the peace that Jesus intends for all of us.  Those folks out there are cynical and skeptical that the church has anything good for them much less that the source of peace and life can be found here.  But if you are convinced that they can, then invite them to come and see.

So, how is it with you today?

No matter where we are on the faith journey we have the opportunity to know Christ more.  Over the next several weeks the discipleship team will be introducing you to a process through which we can all enter and grow in our faith. Whether you are a first time visitor or a lifelong member there is a place for you at St. Paul. 

Next Chapter

My wife and I read differently. She reads book after book.  If uninterrupted she will read several chapters in one sitting. I on the other hand read books I have to read and I am counting the pages to the end of the current chapter I am on so I can be done for a time.  It’s a lot like life.  We can focus on the things we have to do and just get through or we can take the longer view and receive the blessings of God in this life where we can find them.

Our savior Jesus Christ is alive today! We have new life in Jesus Christ. We have eternal life in Jesus Christ. We come together on this holiest day of the year to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  This is sacred time, set apart, and dedicated to God.  We worship a living God while there is a lot going on in the world.  A lot has happened since April 8^th, the last time we gathered for Easter Sunday.

My life is certainly not the same. I’ve been through ups and downs.  I’ve had some losses and gains.  I’ve been in the wilderness.  I’ve had some trials…

How about you? Any of you have some trials in the past year?

Rest now.  You are in God’s house and God is with you through your trials. We turn the page and start a new chapter of our lives and God promises to be there with us through it all.

A lot has happened in the past year, who would have guessed that Ukraine and Russia would be on the brink? In the past year two bombs were set off near the finish line at the Boston marathon, the Roman Catholic Church named a new leader, Prince William and Kate had a baby boy, Hugo Chavez, Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela all passed away and Syria continues its civil war.  It’s a different world than it was a year ago.

And so we move on to the Next Chapter.

Jesus died on a cross on a Friday.  They took his body and put it in a tomb and there it sat through Saturday.

Sometimes in books when you finish a chapter there is a blank page before the next page begins.  That’s how I imagine the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.  Saturday was the blank page.  His followers thought that Friday was the final word. That it was the end of his story but Friday was just the end of a chapter.

Next Chapter!

 As Sunday was dawning Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Their world had been shaken. Their beloved friend and teach was dead.  They were facing a new chapter of their lives that was filled with grief and loss. But when they approached the tomb there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord. Descending from heaven came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

It’s easy to just press on through a passage of scripture, especially this on because of the news that the angel brings. But this alone is something.  An earthquake is a big deal. People lose their lives in earthquakes; people lose their homes and businesses in earthquakes. Scripture says this was a great earthquake.  Lives were changed in this moment. New chapters of other people’s stories took shape because of this earthquake. But in this place, where the two Mary’s were, there was something even more extraordinary than an earth quake. An angel, a messenger of God was sitting on the stone that formerly covered the tomb of Jesus. His appearance was like lightening.

The guards were terrified and lost all their nerve.  They couldn’t do anything. Have you ever been there? In a situation that was so overwhelming that you just didn’t know what to do?

It’s those unscripted, unexpected parts of life where we often encounter God.  When our day to day life plods on and things go as we expect, more or less, it is easy to forget that God is right there with us.  But when we experience a disruption we open our eyes and look around.

The angel told them to not be afraid; “I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised as he said. Come; see the place where he lay.”

They came to visit a grave. What they witnessed was the greatest event in human history.

The angel told them to go and tell the others.  They went and suddenly Jesus was there.  They saw him.  They took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 

Next Chapter!

The tragedy of the crucifixion has been transformed into something beautiful. Our Lord suffered and died and that was terrible.  But what was previously thought to be a catastrophe is now part of a life-giving event.

I have a friend that refuses to wear a cross because he only sees the tragedy of death in it.  Jesus left his mortal body on the cross to go to the Father.  Jesus was one with the Father and we are to be one with Jesus.  The cross shows us God’s willingness to be with us in our suffering.  He is willing to take on flesh and bear the burden of this life.  God is willing to live in us to give us new life.

The cross and the empty tomb, then is about our going to God and God coming to us.  We are to live in Christ and let Christ live in us. We are to imitate Christ.  We are to participate in the suffering and the joys of the world while trusting and being guided by the Holy Spirit.

God’s spirit, God’s glory fills all the earth. Every person on this planet is a child of God that God is calling back to himself. Some do not hear the call. Some that hear the call do not heed the call. Those who heed the call are like seed sown by a farmer.  Some seed falls on the path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns and some on good earth.

We all come to this place at different places in our spiritual journey.  Perhaps some of you come like the two Mary’s did, expecting to learn about someone that was alive once but is now dead. 

The truth is that God came to live among us.  He took on a human body that was perishable.  He died when human powers rejected him and executed him.  His body was placed in a tomb.  What was placed in that tome was like a seed planted in good earth.  Jesus defeated death.  Jesus was resurrected and has a body that is imperishable. Jesus lives forever as our Lord and King.

Next Chapter!

We don’t know what the next year holds. But we know that God is interested and present.

“Jesus lived and died to liberate us from our sins, our doubts, our fears, and the addictions we use to medicate and numb ourselves form the pain of this world.  God raised Jesus to new life to show us that death doesn’t’ have the final word and to confirm the truth of all that Jesus had been teaching.  God raised Jesus to show us God’s victory over the world powers that be and to set us free from their power.” (from The Holy Kiss, An Insurrection of a Resurrection: a progressive Christian Easter Message. By Roger Wolsey. April 18, 2014)

So how is it with you today? Have you experienced the resurrected Christ? God is calling us to follow him. To meet him at the intersection of the cross where he has demonstrated his sacrificial love. God is calling us to take up our cross and come out of hiding and to accomplish the task that he has set for us.