Tools For The Journey

John 14:15-21 (The Message)

“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

“I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

“The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”

This morning is a special day in the life of Meridian Street United Methodist Church.

Today 11 young people stand before you to affirm their ongoing relationship with God and Meridian Street Church through the ritual we call confirmation

I hope they will always remember this day --- I remember my confirmation in 1971

And I remember it every time I have had the privilege to stand before a new class --- memories of my experience

·         my fears

·         my uncertainties

·         my doubts

I know that none of you have it figured out yet --- but let me tell you a little secret --- neither has anyone here --- we are all on a journey of discovery together.

We are at many different places along that journey and together we can help each other grow in our love for God and each other.

But today is not only a special day for those who are being confirmed, it is also a special day for the parents, grandparents, godparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. 

And it should be a special day for each of us who has gathered here today, and who call this community home.

Confirmation is a reminder that there is a new generation --- a new generation who will experience God and the world differently than we have

A new generation to lead the church --- to lead the Christian community --- as it faces the challenges of this new day.

And I would be lying if I didn't recognize that this is a challenging time in the life of the Church --- particularly the United Methodist Church.

·         No doubt you have seen in the news of the confirmation class from Omaha that chose NOT to join the UMC at this time because of our dysfunction over the issue of human sexuality

·         some of you have raised this very same concern

To be honest --- it is not all that different than when I stood up in front of the First United Methodist Church in Roselle IL, to be confirmed. 

We were still gripped in the midst of a war that was splitting our nation and many of our churches.

·         Over 3 and a half million children of God died during this war

·         Over 2 million of those deaths were civilians (and many of them were children)

·         It was a confusing, conflicted and difficult time and many churches were stuck in the middle of trying to be supportive of our country and yet following the teachings of Jesus (which are not always aligned with our countries values)

What I have appreciated about you --- is your desire to wrestle with some of these perplexing questions --- that quite frankly many adults want to avoid --- because you know they will not just go away if we just ignore them

·         I am thankful for the brave persons in the church who stood up in the past

          * over the issue of slavery

          * over unfair labor practices

          * over Jim Crow and segregation

          * over "evil and injustice in whatever form it presents itself"

·         And I am thankful for you --- and the voices that you bring to the table.  Voices that you shared as you re-wrote the vows into a language that made sense and spoke to you.

We believe that all persons have a choice and voice to choose the right way --- God’s way --- and resist and stand up to the injustice we see all around us.  We will stand up and not just wait and watch others.

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II in a college commencement speech to the class of 2019 said:

“I’m here to tell you, if you graduate and get up and get together and get involved, love can take on hate, mercy can take on meanness, justice can take on injustice, truth can defeat lies.

You cannot merely get a job and a car and quarantine your life. Your graduation is more than just getting another slice of materialism. You must stand against injustice and be part of reviving the heart of this nation.”

I hope all the "adults" here this morning follow your lead and join with you in: "resisting evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves"

That they too will: We will stand up and not just wait and watch others.

Earlier this year --- when I was leading the confirmation class one Sunday morning I asked you as a group why you were going through confirmation

          Everyone who was there answered the same way:

                   "because my parents made me"

Last weekend, I asked that same question as I met with each of you individually --- and the six of you that I personally met with all answered the same way.

          But this time it was

                    Because I want to!

          The choice is yours --- it really always has been

But the other question that Matt and I asked was --- "Now that confirmation is finished, what are YOU going to do to continue your spiritual journey"

Your answers were amazing --- I am so proud of each of you

You understand something that even your parents might not understand --- this is not the end of the journey --- this is only the beginning.

          You have not graduated

          Instead you have said that you are willing to take responsibility for your journey

But you are not alone

You are never alone

You have all the tools that you need for this journey

·         You have a God who loves you

          A God who loves you for the person that you are --- right now

And God will never --- ever --- abandon you --- even if you wander away

·         You have a community that loves you and will support you as you wrestle with life's challenges.

Even if you make some poor choices --- may you know that this is ALWAYS a safe haven

·         You have your mentors who have walked beside you

          Matt & I

          Rick

          Bethany, Wendy, Lisa

·         You have each other --- you have come to appreciate and respect each other.  And may you always celebrate what each of you brings to the table

As we studied spiritual gifts you saw that each of you has different gifts --- but together, those gifts make the body whole. 

We need each other!

Let me close with these thoughts from Paul when he wrote to the church at Philippi

Philippians 1:3-6, 9-11  (The Message)

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, . . . And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

I Think I Missed It

John 20:24-29  (The Message)

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.”

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.”

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.”

Thomas said, “My Master! My God!”

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.”

One of my daughter’s favorite books growing up was “A Bridge to Terabithia” by Katherine Peterson.  I remember when, as a young child, she brought the book to me and asked me to read it.

I think it must be a nostalgia thing, but I decided I wanted to read the book again this week. 

It is the story of Jess Aarons, a shy self-conscious eleven-year-old boy from a poor and fundamentalist Christian family in rural Virginia, and the friendship that he develops with Leslie Burke --- who is the exact opposite of Jess. 

Leslie is filled with a gregarious spirit and imagination and sees life as one big adventure after another.

They become great friends and create an imaginary world known as Terabithia.

Jess tells Leslie that they go to church on Easter, and Leslie surprises him by asking if she can go with them.

She has never been to church, and she wonders what it is all about.

Jess is bewildered, and wonders why anyone would want to go to church if they did not have to. 

But he succeeds in persuading his mother to let Leslie go with them --- provided that Leslie doesn't embarrass her --- which was her biggest concern.

On the way home from the Easter Church service, Leslie, Jess, and his sister May Belle are in the back of the pickup truck and she shares that she was glad she came along, despite the hellfire and brimstone preaching and declares:

  “I'm really glad I came . . .That whole Jesus thing.  It’s really interesting.”

May Belle pipes in and tries to correct Leslie: “It’s not interesting.  It is scary.  It’s nailing holes through your hand. . . . It’s because we are all vile sinners that God made Jesus die.”

Leslie was overwhelmed by her response and says: “Do you really think that’s true?”

Jess was shocked. "It's in the Bible, Leslie."

May Belle says: "You gotta believe the Bible, Leslie"

"Why?", she asks

"Cause if you don't believe the Bible" -- May Belle's eyes were huge --- "God'll damn you to hell when you die."

"I don't believe it," Leslie said and then she added "I don't think you've even read the Bible."

I don't believe it either --- and that is where the problem lies

The reality is --- we all have doubts.

Even if we have read the whole bible --- there are parts that just don't seem to make sense

and other parts that seem to say one thing and then later say the exact opposite

In her book A Year of Biblical Womanhood, Rachel Held Evans --- you had to know I would quote her somehow this week --- wrote:

If you are looking for verses with which to support slavery, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to abolish slavery, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to oppress women, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to liberate or honor women, you will find them. If you are looking for reasons to wage war, you will find them. If you are looking for reasons to promote peace, you will find them. If you are looking for an outdated, irrelevant ancient text, you will find it. If you are looking for truth, believe me, you will find it.

This is why there are times when the most instructive question to bring to the text is not what does it say? But what am I looking for? I suspect Jesus knew this when he said, “ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.” If you want to do violence in this world, you will always find the weapons. If you want to heal, you will always find the balm.

The late Charles Ryrie, was a teacher at Dallas Theological Seminary and taught the theology of dispensationalism; he put together a study bible that highlights in various colors his interpretation of major Christian doctrines.

In other words, every passage of the bible is color coded that allows readers to identify quickly and easily twelve major themes of Scripture throughout the text: God, discipleship, love, faith, sin, evil, salvation, family, outreach, commandments, history, and prophecy.

Someone in the Monday morning Bible Study has one of these very bright bibles and they shared that when Thomas acknowledges his doubt that it is colored as a sin.

I find that fascinating --- that we have often equated doubt with sin.

Why do we do that?

Why do we believe that to question your beliefs is a SIN?

Rachel Held Evans addressed this when she wrote:

It's a frightful thing - thinking you have to get God right in order to get God to love you, thinking you're always one error away from damnation. It's a kind of legalism, really... How ironic. The very condition of humanity is to be wrong about God. The moment we figure God out, God ceases to be God. Maybe it's time to embrace the mystery and let ourselves off the hook.

But what is even more fascinating, is if you look carefully at the Greek here in John 20, Jesus never tells Thomas not to doubt and he certainly never suggests that he is a sinner for his questions.

In Matthew 14, when Peter tries to walk on water and sinks, Jesus, reaching out his hand saves him and says, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

But in John 20, when Jesus and Thomas meet in the upper room, Jesus lets Thomas touch his hands, feet and side and then says, “Don’t be without belief, rather believe.”

As I have shared during this look at John’s Gospel: --- for the author of John, belief isn’t about an intellectual assent to some list of facts, but instead, belief is about relationship.

When Jesus died on the cross, in many ways, so too did his relationship with Thomas.

Thomas believed Jesus, he gave him his heart and his hope, and the reality is --- that belief couldn’t live beyond the grave.

Unless, of course, Jesus lived beyond the grave, and that is so hard to fathom!

Is it surprising that Thomas wanted proof before he handed his heart over risking that it might be burned again?

I’ve always felt bad for Thomas.

He was asked to do what the other disciples didn’t have to do.

He had to believe sight unseen.

Probably any of the others would have had the same struggle.

Remember the Easter story --- after Jesus has appeared to Mary in the garden, he goes to the room where the rest of his disciples are holed up. And they’re afraid.

Suddenly Jesus appears, despite the locked doors, and they can see the wounds in his hands and his side.

          And Jesus says “peace be with you”.

                   And they believe.

But one disciple was missing.

          And, if I am honest, this disciple would probably be me.

Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus came back.

          Maybe he was at the store.

          Maybe he was running late after work.

          Maybe he was stuck in traffic.

For whatever reason, Thomas arrives and all the other disciples tell him Jesus was just here.

          I’ll bet they even said to him something like, “Thomas, you won’t believe this!”

And he doesn’t. Thomas tells them, “Unless I see it for myself, and can touch his wounds, I won’t believe.”

Have you ever wondered how Thomas must have felt right then?

Were the disciples’ pranksters, just playing a joke on him?

Or were they telling the truth, and if so, why hadn’t Jesus stayed around for him to see him too?

All he knew was that the other ten remaining disciples were in on something, and he wasn’t.

And yet, we all know Thomas as “doubting Thomas”.

I wonder how long after this happened did it take for the other disciples to start to call him that.

“Oh, that’s doubting Thomas. Jesus had to come and let him touch his hands before he believed.”

But that is all of us --- we all have our doubts.  And the important question is not how do we deny our doubts, but rather how do we grow from them.

Let me offer three simple steps that can help us as we deal with our doubts

1.    Ask Questions

If our faith can’t handle the questions --- it is a weak faith indeed

Jesus tells us his stories in parables which are told in such a way as to invoke questions (and more than one answer)

2.    Acknowledge your doubts

Own it!

3.    Be Patient

Through prayer and study our doubts can grow into --- not certainty --- for there always is doubt --- but into great faith

Faith and doubt are NOT the opposite

I would suggest that they are totally and necessarily compatible

Let me close with this thought from Richard Rohr.

I believe too often we think we need to KNOW everything. 

We try to get it all in our heads and forget about our hearts.

The key is accepting we cannot ever fully know --- and allow ourselves to become comfortable in the questions.

I see mystery not as something you cannot understand; rather, it is something that you can endlessly understand! There is no point at which you can say, “I’ve got it.” Always and forever, mystery gets you! In the same way, you don’t hold God in your pocket; rather, God holds you and knows your deepest identity.

When we describe God, we can only use similes, analogies, and metaphors. All theological language is an approximation, offered tentatively in holy awe. We can say, “It’s like . . .” or “It’s similar to . . .”; but we can never say with absolute certainty, “It is . . .” because we are in the realm of beyond, of transcendence, of mystery. We absolutely must maintain humility before the Great Mystery; otherwise, religion worships itself and its formulations instead of God.