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During this past week, several people asked me – and I’m guessing they asked Barbara as well - “so, how are you feeling now that Easter is over?” Are you taking a little break now that Easter is over? I met another pastor this week, and we were commiserating about the “holy hangover” that occurs now that Easter is over. It does seem like Easter is over, doesn’t it? Some of the sweet sounds of resurrection have gone silent – There’s no brass quintet or bell choir this morning. The sweet smell of Easter is gone, too: The fragrance of the Easter lilies, tulips, and hyacinths that wafted among us in the sanctuary last Sunday now graces homes and hospital rooms. And it’s not just at church that we notice the holiday passing. The family company has returned home, and I think by last Sunday evening, they had marked the Easter candy and decorations 50% off at CVS! In our house, the last two pink marshmallow peeps have disappeared from the candy collection. Well, it may seem like Easter is over, but when we turn to our Scriptures, we discover that we are drawn right back to the day of Resurrection. The gospel and our God will not let us settle back into our regular routines, to go on as if nothing had happened in our history and in our hearts. This week – and over the next several weeks, we are invited to not only rest for a while in Easter, but to also wrestle with it means to encounter the Risen Christ. Before we move on or move back to business as usual, we are invited to know that Easter is more than one day, more than brass and bells, more than flowers and a filled balcony, more even than the all our shouts of alleluias. So, let’s turn to John’s gospel, Where we’re invited back on that evening of the first Easter. The disciples – having heard the testimony of Mary Magdalene – are gathered together in fear, we are told, in fear what religious and political authorities might bring upon them. Perhaps they are also afraid of Jesus. If he was resurrected as they said, He might have a few words about their disappearance when things got the most difficult. And so, as their fear, confusion, and apprehension continues to build, Jesus appears and grants them peace. Sensing that they might need proof that it was really him, Jesus shows them his hands and his side, His body bearing the marks of the crucifixion, His body bearing the marks of both the power and vulnerability of our God. As soon as they see Jesus, As soon as they hear his voice and see his wounds, The disciples rejoice! The one who they believed had died is now alive and among them! The one who had performed signs and miracles of God’s extravagant and abundant love continues to perform those signs and miracles. Here is the good news, friends: Easter changes Jesus, Changes the disciples, And – if we let it – will change each of us. But not all the disciples were present to experience that change. Thomas, forever known as “doubting Thomas,” did not hear Jesus’ words of peace and promise. He listens to witness of the other disciples – “We have seen the Lord!” – and says that he, too, must have a “hands on” experience with the Risen Lord. Pastor and teacher Nancy Pittman sheds a different light on “Doubting Thomas.” Each time we hear this narrative, she says, we interpret – or have interpreted for us – that Thomas doubt is related to the fact that he doesn’t has enough faith to believe without seeing. But Thomas desires what all the other disciples have had – A direct experience with the Risen Lord, To see the strength and humility just as the others had. Thomas’ real doubt, Pittman writes, is not with Jesus or his faith, but with his community. He doubts the power of the witness of those in his community. Remember that Thomas has walked the last three years with the other disciples, a community called by Christ. Together, they heard Jesus preach, watched him heal and cast out demons, and within the last week, shared a meal with all of them and listened to Jesus talk about his – and their future. And yet, even after all of this, Thomas dismisses their witness and refuses to believe them. Being in community is trusting those with whom we share life. I don’t think Pittman is suggesting that we all need to agree with each other – that wouldn’t be biblical, after all! – but we do need to listen and respect the faith experiences and that each of us have had in our lives. We need to respect the different interpretations of Scripture; The different desires and plans for our community; The different ways we live out our discipleship. The experience of Thomas - The experience of Easter - invites us to believe in the goodness of the Lord and in the goodness of each other. As we rest and wrestle with the invitation to trust in the goodness of God and the goodness of God’s people during the Easter season, We have entered another season here in the church – The stewardship and pledging season. It might seem a bit unusual or untraditional to have stewardship this time of the year – Many other churches have their campaigns in the fall. However, this year, I realized Easter is the perfect time for a pledge campaign! What a gift it is to be thinking about and discerning our pledges in this season, for this is the season that, as poet Joyce Rupp says, that challenges us. “Every year,” she writes, “every year, the dull and dead – and I would add “doubting” – in us meets the Easter challenge: To be open to the unexpected, To believe beyond our security, To welcome God in many forms….” Friends, the Easter challenge is also our stewardship challenge: to open ourselves to the transformative power of God in our lives; to take a risk, to go beyond our comfort zones; to believe in the goodness of God and in the goodness of each other; and to welcome God in a new way through our pledging. When we talk about stewardship or pledging, We can huddle in fear like those first disciples on Easter evening – afraid of the future, afraid that there will be not be enough, afraid of all that is outside these doors that require our response. But let’s go back to the text – The disciples do not remain afraid; their fear is transformed into joy by an encounter with the Risen Christ. And so, friends, Let us ask ourselves, Where have we met the Risen Lord, Where have we seen joy and peace? Where have we touched love and grace? See! Jesus says to Thomas. See! Jesus says to each of us. We cannot touch the hands and side of Christ as Thomas did, But we can touch the blessings that Christ has brought into our lives, Encountering God’s generosity made real in the resurrection. Perhaps you meet the Risen Christ in the joy of the children we see each week, in their questions – and more often than not, their answers. Perhaps you meet the light of new life of the Risen Christ during a bible study, when someone gains a new insight of the Word of God, an insight that changes their life. I can see the peace of the Risen Christ on your faces when the choir sings a song that reminds us in the busyness and chaos of life, all shall be well. I see it, too, when I go to the hospital – Representing all of you – And bring our thoughts and prayers. We can see the presence of the Risen Christ in this beautiful building, In our historic sanctuary and in the ways this church becomes a meeting place for people in our town. All these blessings come to us from the grace of God, But they also come to us because you and I make a commitment to the church with our time, our talent, and our treasure. Do you remember what the first disciples did when they encountered the Risen Christ? They had to declare the truth in joy: We have seen the Lord! And then they had to tell others the good news: We have seen the Lord! Sisters and brothers, our pledge cards can be one way to declare that we, too, have seen the Lord! Our completed pledge cards are a response in faith, to witness - in this community and in this neighborhood and in this world – to the Easter truth. So, let us join together with the disciples across all generations who have seen and heard and touched the Risen Christ, and give joyously and generously because we have seen and we believe! Amen and alleluia! |