April 28, 2019 2nd Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-31  (The Message)
19-20 Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he showed them his hands and side.
20-21 The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.”
22-23 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said. “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”
24-25 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.”
But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.”
27 Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.”
28 Thomas said, “My Master! My God!”
29 Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”
30-31 Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.

We don’t get very far into the Easter season before we run into Thomas - doubting Thomas.

He is the one who grounds the resurrection in the physical appearance of Jesus.
He is, as one person put it, “...a pioneer of the faith through whose persistency we are given a message of grace and joy.”
He is also the one who reminds us that doubt is a part of faith.  It is often on the growing edge of faith.

As Luther said, “There is more faith in honest doubt then in all the creeds of Christendom.”

What we say we doubt may well be what we most want to believe.
When we continue to believe, even when we have our doubts,  we are open to believing more then we can believe.

It is no sin to doubt.  Our doubts not only keep us honest and humble, they also are openings for God’s spirit to touch our lives.  For through our doubts we are let to believe in mysteries far beyond human logic or comprehension.






“I believe in the sun,
even when it is not shining.
I believe in Love
even when I feel it not.
I believe in God,
even when He is silent.”
           Cellar in Cologne after WWII










Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, I believe; help mine unbelief.  Help me see more then can be seen and believe more then can be grasped with the human mind.”

April 21, 2019 Easter Sunday

Luke 24:1-12   (The Message)

1-3 At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.
4-8 They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.
9-11 They left the tomb and broke the news of all this to the Eleven and the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them kept telling these things to the apostles, but the apostles didn’t believe a word of it, thought they were making it all up.
12 But Peter jumped to his feet and ran to the tomb. He stooped to look in and saw a few grave clothes, that’s all. He walked away puzzled, shaking his head.


We live in a world where almost anything can happen.  We travel to the moon and beyond.  We transplant kidneys and hearts.  We travel so fast we can arrive before we left.  We control rivers and remove mountains.  We can do most anything, sometimes to our good, sometimes to our detriment  Almost anything can happen.  Little seems to be impossible anymore.

We also live in a world where the impossible has happened. A world where the most incredible, unbelievable, fantastic, breath taking event has taken place which still causes us to gasp with amazement and say, “I don’t believe it.”  For it is in this our world that God chose to dwell and it is in this world that a resurrection happened!

Anything CAN happen now.  The tomb is empty, the future is open!
In this there is hope for our living and our dying.


“The resurrection does not fit    
into our ordinary perceptions
of human power, importance,
and value.  It tells us that at
the heart and center of the
universe love is reigning.”
Morton Kelsey







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to live in hope with love.”

April 14,, 2019 Passion Sunday

Luke 22:14-23:56  (The full Passion story- read it this week>)
Luke 23:33-47(The Message )

33 When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.
34-35 Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, “He saved others. Let’s see him save himself! The Messiah of God—ha! The Chosen—ha!”
36-37 The soldiers also came up and poked fun at him, making a game of it. They toasted him with sour wine: “So you’re King of the Jews! Save yourself!”
38 Printed over him was a sign: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed him: “Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!”
40-41 But the other one made him shut up: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.”
43 He said, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.”
44-46 By now it was noon. The whole earth became dark, the darkness lasting three hours—a total blackout. The Temple curtain split right down the middle. Jesus called loudly, “Father, I place my life in your hands!” Then he breathed his last.
47 When the captain there saw what happened, he honored God: “This man was innocent! A good man, and innocent!”

The road to Easter goes through Good Friday.
The joy of celebration has its roots deep within the agony of defeat.
There is no resurrection without a cross.

This is the beginning of the most horrible and the most glorious week in human history.
We hear the words “Crucify him, crucify him!” before we hear “Alleluia, He lives!”

“When the crucified Jesus is called ‘the image of the invisible God’, the meaning is that this is God, and God is like this.  God is not greater than he is in this humiliation.  God is not more glorious than he is in this self-surrender.  God is not more powerful than he is in this helplessness.  God is not more divine than he is in this humanity.”
Douglas John Hall

"God is not more divine
than he is in this humanity.”
Douglas John Hall

 










Prayer thought for the week:  Read the full passion story and walk with it all week.

April 7, 2019 Fifth Sunday in Lent

Luke 20:9-19  (The Message)

9-12 Jesus told another story to the people: “A man planted a vineyard. He handed it over to farmhands and went off on a trip. He was gone a long time. In time he sent a servant back to the farmhands to collect the profits, but they beat him up and sent him off empty-handed. He decided to try again and sent another servant. That one they beat black-and-blue, and sent him off empty-handed. He tried a third time. They worked that servant over from head to foot and dumped him in the street.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘I know what I’ll do: I’ll send my beloved son. They’re bound to respect my son.’
14-15 “But when the farmhands saw him coming, they quickly put their heads together. ‘This is our chance—this is the heir! Let’s kill him and have it all to ourselves.’ They killed him and threw him over the fence.
15-16 “What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? Right. He’ll come and clean house. Then he’ll assign the care of the vineyard to others.”
Those who were listening said, “Oh, no! He’d never do that!”
17-18 But Jesus didn’t back down. “Why, then, do you think this was written:
That stone the masons threw out—
It’s now the cornerstone!?
“Anyone falling over that stone will break every bone in his body; if the stone falls on anyone, it will be a total smashup.”
19 The religion scholars and high priests wanted to lynch him on the spot, but they were intimidated by public opinion. They knew the story was about them.

The story was about them…and us!
It is a wake up call to all who would follow Jesus.

We can’t have it our way!
We can’t take and take and take, thinking we can have it all.
For when we do, we end up with nothing!

We are mortals with feet of clay, yet molded in the image of God.

We are to live as servants, not masters and seek to imitate Christ,
who “though he was in the form of God…emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…
and became obedient to the point of death…”  Phil. 2:6
That is, we are to give life not take it and discover how good it is and how full life becomes.





“That which is
given away
is not wasted."
City of Joy









Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me mindful that I am not the ‘captain of my ship’;
that there is more to life then taking all I can get.  For to give
is a joy far greater.”