April 25, 2021 Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:14  (The Message)

14 "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me.

Life is not discovered in things, objects and possessions; life is discovered in all its fullness in being known and in knowing, in relationships!

Herman Wouk, author of “The Caine Mutiny” wrote after his seeming success in finding the fullness of life, 

“It was my lot to reach quite young what many people consider 

the dream life of America:  success by my own efforts,

a stream of dollars to spend, a penthouse in New York,

forays to Hollywood, the companionship of pretty women,

all before l was 24.  There I was in the realms of gold.  

But even as I lived this conventional smart existence 

of inner show business and dreamed the conventional dreams, 

IT ALL SEEMED THIN.”           (Sept, 21, 1959, Time Magazine)

Life is relationships.  It is knowing and being known.  The fullness of life is discovered in the touch of others, and in the touch of the One who came that we might have life. Who calls us by name and knows us intimately, so we can be totally honest with him.  When we hear his voice and follow him we discover life all the way up. 

We will never be fully real until we 

let ourselves fall in love - either

 with another human person 

or with God.”  (or both).

          Thomas Merton

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me in touch this week with what is really

important, people not things.  Loving and being loved by both others and      ` You.”

April 18, 2021 Third Sunday of Easter

Luke 24:36b-48  (The Message)

36 While they were saying all this, Jesus appeared to them and said, "Peace be with you." 37 They thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. 38 He continued with them, "Don't be upset, and don't let all these doubting questions take over. 39 Look at my hands; look at my feet - it's really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn't have muscle and bone like this." 40 As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 They still couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was too much; it seemed too good to be true. 42 They gave him a piece of leftover fish they had cooked. 43 He took it and ate it right before their eyes. 44 Then he said, "Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this: All the things written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms have to be fulfilled." 45 He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way. 46 He said, "You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, 47 and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations - starting from here, from Jerusalem! 48 You're the first to hear and see it. You're the witnesses.

Good news as well as bad news is hard to believe.  It is too good to be true.

To “disbelieve for joy”, as some versions depict the disciples reaction to the risen Jesus, is to believe that which is too good to be true.  It is perhaps the most honest way to hear and respond to the Easter message.

As Eugene Kennedy, says in his book, “Believing”, the disciples here are 

“experiencing an impulse to believe more deeply...a passionate need to believe as richly and profoundly as possible.”  For “believing cannot be activated by force or by fear.” It happens when we encounter the mystery of the resurrection.  And discover a truth which is too good to not be true!

 

"The great challenge of faith   

is to be surprised by joy."  

Henri Nouwen

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord surprise me again, and again, and again

with that which is too good to not be true.  Open my eyes to see the resurrection

which happened and happens again and again and again. 

April 11, 2021 2 Sunday of Easter

 John 20:19-31  (The Message)

19 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." 20 Then he showed them his hands and side. 21 Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you." 22 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. 23 "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 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 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 Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. 31 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.

Be a doubting Thomas!  It is a part of healthy faith.

It will keep you honest and open to change; open to God’s will for your life.  

It will keep you humble - you will not get so easily caught in the idolatry of certainty.  Faith will be a voyage of discovery, often disturbing, yet also fulfilling.

For the terrible truth we are saved from by doubting is, as Alan Jones says,  “the persecuting personality (which) is marked by clarity and precision.  (In which) there is no room for indecision... no room for guilt... no room for doubt.  Such are the distinguishing marks of a totalitarian state or totalitarian church (or totalitarian individual).  (It is ) the divided mind, the uneasy conscience, and the sense of personal failure (that is, our own uneasiness and doubt) which brings us... to the place of faith (where we become not blind believers) but one of God’s spies trying to make room for hope (in a world of hopelessness and despair.)”  (Soul Making, pp.117,119)

Ellie Wiesel, who lived through the fanaticism of the Holocaust born of the blind belief in the superiority of the Arian race says, “I turn away from persons who declare that they know better than anyone else the only true road to God....My experience is that the fanatic hides from true debate...He is afraid of pluralism and diversity; he abhors learning.  He knows how to speak in monologues only...The fanatic never rests and never quits; the more he conquers, the more he seeks new conquests....A fanatic has answers, not questions; certainties, not hesitations,(and ) as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expressed it, (it’s) ‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty but certainty’.”  

“In a world where there is no room   

for doubt, ambiguity, or questioning, 

there is no room for genuine faith.”    

Alan Jones

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.  Help me to doubt my way into a living active faith.  And be one of God’s spies making room for hope in my world, certain only that love is your answer to our problems.”

April 4, 2021 Easter Sunday

Mark 16;1-8  (The Message)

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, “Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?”

4-5 Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back—it was a huge stone—and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished.

6-7 He said, “Don’t be afraid. I know you’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He’s been raised up; he’s here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is empty. Now—on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You’ll see him there, exactly as he said.”

8 They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone. (for they were afraid. RSV)

They were afraid!  Who wouldn’t be!  Something mind boggling had happened!

They were alarmed, affrighted, amazed, astonished, dumb founded, bewildered, terrified - for something too terrible or too wonderful had happened and they couldn’t make heads or tails of it - YET!  

So they ran away.   Yet hidden in their fear was the spark of hope which was too wonderful to believe - YET!  

They were the first to feel the hope that does not disappoint, the truth that God is for us, not against us.  And as their fear gave way to hope they dared speak about what had happened.

Easter is not just an oddity in history, an isolated act of God’s power.  It is “The new action of God whose province (specialty) it is to create new futures for people and to let them be amazed in the midst of despair.”

“Amazed in the midst of despair.”

Amazed that there is a God who will not forsake us, ever.

Amazed that there is a love which is greater then all the hate, and nothing can separate us from this love - in this world or in the next.

Out of our fear comes our hope  and out of our hope comes our living as those  who are been loved eternally!

Easter is “The new action of God 

whose province (speciality) it is to 

create new futures for people and 

to let them be amazed in the midst 

of despair.”

Anonymous  

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, I too am amazed, even dumb founded by the 

thought of a Resurrection.  Yet I dare believe it happened.  Help me to live in the joy of this truth, today and always.”