"What Do We Do Now?"-- message shared at White Oak UMC today

In spite of the tornadoes and storms that ravaged our area this past week, I was still able to attend White Oak UMC this morning and participate in their worship service.  Why is that of any significance?  Well, if you go back in this blog to December 26th, you will see that I was scheduled to speak there then, but we needed to cancel due to the snow storm.  When I was asked to come back in May, I jokingly told folks that if it snowed this time, that the guy upstairs was trying to tell me something.  Well, it didn't snow, but there was an act of nature that disrupted life.  The title of the message became a double-entendre, something I had not planned.  Though the church wasn't sure they would even have electricity today, they wanted to go ahead with having services.  I'm glad.  Not for my part.  Not at all.  But for the blessings I received.  I learned that David, the music director, is fluent in Spanish.  Who would have known?!?!  I met 2 fellow Asbury students (one has graduated).  I got to chat with folks I met when I "scouted out" the church in early December.  I got to join in on wonderful music as well as to listen to some jammin' piano and special worship music from the choir.  From the liturgist to the sound system, to those who prayed with and for me (some of the same folks), to those who spoke with me on the phone, to the visiting pastor from Orlando, FL and his wife who consider this their home, and to the pastor who invited me and is now on her honeymoon.... on behalf of myself and my family, thank you for inviting us into your family to worship.  We were blessed.

Here is the message (more or less) that I shared today as a Certified Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church......

“What Do We Do Now?”

John 20:19-31

White Oak UMC, May 1^st, 2011

Scripture: John 20:19-31 (NRSV)

19 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.’²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.²¹Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

Jesus and Thomas

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin^*), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.²⁵So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

26 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.’²⁷Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’²⁸Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’²⁹Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

The Purpose of This Book

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe^* that Jesus is the Messiah,^* the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

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Imagine the scene.  Try to put yourself into the story.  The disciples had gathered together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.  I imagine they might be sitting around asking themselves, “What do we do now?”  Without knocking, without opening the door, Jesus enters the room and says “Peace be with you”. 

I don’t know about you, but if I were behind locked doors out of fear in the first place and anyone entered the room without coming through the door, “peace” would be the last thing on my mind.

The disciples had been told that Jesus’ body was not found in the tomb, but they had not seen him yet.  So, imagine their surprise when someone enters their locked room and it is the resurrected Jesus.  Jesus showed the disciples his hands and his side.  The Message says that the disciples were “exuberant” upon seeing Jesus.  The NIV says “overjoyed”.  The NRSV says they “rejoiced”.  Think about what must have been going through their minds… the conversations they had had with Jesus the week before, all the events of the past week.  And, now, here he was, in their midst.

 As their minds were trying to grasp the reality of it all, they were probably beginning to realize the truth of what he had been telling them.  One more time Jesus tells them “Peace be with you”.  And, then he adds: “Just as the Father sent me, I send you.”  Jesus is commissioning the disciples here to go and do as He had done.  Go and teach…preach…heal…feed…clothe…care for the sick…care for the dying… care for those who are without electricity and for those whose homes have been destroyed…cut down trees for neighbors in need….LOVE…love one another…go and be, go and do, just as Christ Jesus had gone and done.

To complete the commissioning, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into them.  Before Jesus had been crucified, he had told the disciples that he would not leave them alone once he was gone, but that he would send a helper to be with them.  After breathing the Holy Spirit into them, he reminds the disciples to forgive.  For Jesus to mention forgiveness here might let both the disciples and us know that forgiveness is an important part of doing things in the way of Christ. 

Now, not every disciple was in that room that day.  We read further on, starting in verse 12, that Thomas had not been there with the other disciples when Jesus first appeared.   When the disciples told Thomas they had seen Jesus, Thomas’ reaction was that he wanted proof.  He wanted to be able to see the marks in his hands and side.  Not only did he want to see, he wanted to touch them as well.  Thomas has gotten a bad reputation over the years.  In all fairness, the other disciples did see the marks on Jesus’ hands and side.   He is only asking to do what they had been able to do.  Maybe he didn’t fully believe his friends.  Maybe Thomas was a visual learner.  Hearing about it from his friends was okay, but he really wanted to see.  He also wanted to touch.  Thomas had a different learning style from the others.  That’s okay.  We don’t all process things the same way.  We don’t all live out our faith journey the same way.  That doesn’t mean something is wrong.  Thomas gets his opportunity to check out Jesus for himself a week later from the time the other disciples first saw Jesus.  Jesus came through shut doors once again.  Once again, Jesus greeted the group with “peace be with you.”  How did Jesus respond to Thomas?  Jesus didn’t even give Thomas the opportunity to question him.  Instead, Jesus approaches Thomas and tells him to reach out and touch his hands, then to touch his side.  Jesus knew that Thomas needed to see, like the others, and also feel.  Instead of belittling Thomas, Jesus allowed for Thomas’ needs.  Thomas was able to live into the questions, the doubts, and get his answers.  Thomas needed that space to grow on his faith journey and Jesus gave it to him.  Thomas’ response to Jesus was immediate belief and recognition.  In a commentary for these verses, Bruce Epperly wrote:  “Healthy resurrection faith makes space for doubts, questions, and unbelief.” (March 30, 2008 Lectionary Commentary, http://www.processandfaith.org)  In a different year’s commentary for these verses, Epperly writes this about Thomas: “Thomas’ faith reminds us that living in community in spite of our doubts is the only way we can find the truth that will sustain us.” (April 3, 2005 Lectionary Commentary, http://www.processandfaith.org)

Let’s step out of the biblical scene.  What does all of this mean for us?  What do we do now?

We are those disciples that Jesus has commissioned to go and do as He has done.  Once Jesus came into the room, the disciples knew what they were to do.  As we look at their encounter with the resurrected Jesus, we can take four things with us that we can do:

1)     Go and do what Jesus has gone and done

2)     Accept the peace that Jesus offers us as He enters into our midst

3)     Breathe in the Holy Spirit that Jesus breathes upon us

4)     Live a life of forgiveness, of reconciliation.

As we think about these four areas, let’s personalize the lesson by asking ourselves these questions:

·       Am I going and doing as Jesus has done?  Am I reaching out to the lost, the hurting, the lonely, the hungry, the sick, the dying, the homeless?  Am I reaching out with Christ’s love?  This week has really opened up an opportunity for us to live this out more radically than normal because of the tornadoes and storms.  Opportunities with our neighbors, with our friends and family, with our churches, within our District.  Camp Lookout, our District camp suffered a heavy loss.  They’ve already had one workday and will have more.  UMCOR has already set up a number for the southern storms.  There are ways to help.

·       Have I accepted the peace that Jesus offers me?

·       Jesus has breathed the Holy Spirit on me.  Have I inhaled?  In a commentary for these verses, Bruce Epperly wrote: “When God’s lively wind breathes within us, we become spirit-filled and spirit-centered, able to do more than we can imagine as God’s partners in healing the world and our personal lives.  God’s Holy Spirit is a healing spirit, mending wounds of relationships, bodies, memories, and the planet.” (March 30, 2008 Lectionary Commentary, http://www.processandfaith.org)

·       Jesus also said to forgive.  To live into forgiveness means to live into a life of reconciliation.  Am I living a life that reveals forgiveness and reconciliation?

 As we close today, I want us to realize that we are Easter people.  Have you heard Christ followers referred to as “resurrection people” or “Easter people”?  Since we follow a resurrected Christ, a risen Lord, we are resurrection people, Easter people. 

As “resurrection people”, “Easter people”, how are we to live?  I want to share with you some words from Bishop Michael Coyner of the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church as he addressed “Living as Easter People” on their conference webpage.  Listen as he compares “Easter people” to “church people”, pointing out 5 differences:

Living as Easter people http://www.inumc.org/news/detail/894

The holy season of Easter - the great 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday - calls us to live as Easter people. By contrast, sometimes we settle for just being "church people." There is really quite a difference between those two lifestyles.

·    Easter people base their faith on the sacrifice of the Cross and the victory of Easter. Church people base their faith on their own busy work in the church.

·    Easter people trust in Christ; church people try to earn this salvation by being good people.

·    Easter people know that the church is the Body of Christ; church people believe the church is just another institution.

·    Easter people worship out of a sense of joy and give their offerings out of a sense of gratitude to God. Church people too often attend worship and give to the church budget out of a sense of obligation. And most importantly,

·    Easter people approach their own death or the death of a loved one anticipating the promise of Resurrection. Church people fear death and live life with a sense of dread.

Do you hear the difference? Church people are good people, hard working people, often the backbone of their community, respectable and faithful. Easter people are church people who have finally discovered what the Christian faith is all about.

It's sad when some people live their whole life as what John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, called "Almost Christians." Wesley urged the church people of his day to discover what he had finally discovered in the heart-warming experience we call his Aldersgate Experience. Wesley searched and searched to know God, to find joy in his faith and to have an assurance of God's grace.

When he attended a prayer meeting on Aldersgate Street in London, England he heard the group leader reading from Martin Luther. He heard about Luther's focus from Romans that "the just shall live by faith."

Wesley writes that he felt his heart "strangely warmed" and finally he knew for himself God's love and forgiveness. At that moment, Wesley changed from being a hard-working, religious and dutiful church person. Wesley became an Easter person.

Several years ago composers Richard Avery and Donald Marsh put this joy into a little song called "Every Morning is Easter Morning." The chorus goes: "Ev'ry morning is Easter morning from now on! Ev'ry day's resurrection day, the past is over and gone!" The first stanza includes the words: "I am one of the Easter people! My new life has begun!"

My prayer for all United Methodists people is that this season of Easter might be a time of discovering our Easter faith, learning to know God's love, and becoming Easter people. Happy Easter!

Bishop Michael J. Coyner
Indiana Area of
The United Methodist Church
Making a Difference in Indiana
and around the world.

May we leave here today, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be the Easter people that Jesus has commissioned us to be—doing as Jesus has done, accepting the peace offered to us, breathing in the Holy Spirit, and living a life of forgiveness and reconciliation.  AMEN.