0:0 - Well, good morning, and thank you for having me back again.
0:4 - It's always a tremendous honor to be here worshiping together with you on this week after Easter Sunday.
0:13 - Why does it seem that Easter Sunday was so long ago, and it's only been a week?
0:21 - Our scripture reading this morning is from John chapter 20, verses 19 through 31.
0:28 - The reading this morning is from the New Living Translation.
0:32 - It is one that I became familiar with over the last six or seven years or so, and I have found it to be a very fine supplement to the New International Version, which has been my Bible for many years, or the New Revised Standard Version, which has been my study Bible for many years, or the English Standard Version, which is quickly becoming now the primary translation.
0:55 - But one of the things I always like to recommend to my congregations was to have several Bibles in several different versions, because one of the great ways to engage in Bible study is to have those versions side by side, because sometimes they express a phrase or a thought or a wording just a little bit differently.
1:17 - And if you find yourself going through the Bible and you read a passage and you think to yourself, now, I'm not sure exactly what they're on about there.
1:26 - Check another translation or maybe even two more.
1:30 - And oftentimes, just that slightly different angle towards how that phrase is being expressed can be what you need to set yourself onto a greater understanding.
1:42 - So today from the New Living Translation, we have John chapter 20 verses 19 through 31.
1:50 - And it very much reminds us that we are still very much in Easter.
1:57 - So let's listen for God speaking to us through his word to us today.
2:4 - That Sunday evening, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the temple authorities.
2:12 - And suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them.
2:16 - Peace be with you, he said.
2:19 - And as he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hand and his side.
2:23 - And they were filled with joy when they saw the Lord.
2:26 - And again, he said, peace be with you.
2:30 - As the father has sent me, said Jesus, so I am sending you.
2:35 - And then he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.
2:39 - If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven.
2:42 - If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.
2:47 - Now, one of the 12 disciples, Thomas, who was nicknamed the Twin, was not with the others when Jesus came.
2:56 - They told him, we have seen the Lord.
3:0 - But he replied, I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them and place my hand into the wound in his side.
3:15 - Well, eight days later, the disciples were together again.
3:19 - And this time Thomas was with them.
3:22 - The doors were locked.
3:25 - But then suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them.
3:28 - Peace be with you, he said.
3:32 - And then he said to Thomas, put your finger here, look at my hands.
3:37 - Put your hand into the wound in my side.
3:39 - Don't be faithless any longer.
3:44 - Believe, my Lord and my God, Thomas exclaimed.
3:50 - And then Jesus told him, you believe because you've seen me.
3:53 - Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.
3:57 - The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book.
4:4 - But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him, you will have life by the power of his name.
4:19 - Thanks be to God for the reading of his word.
4:27 - Have you ever wondered what the disciples were doing that very first Easter Sunday evening?
4:36 - I'll tell you what they weren't doing.
4:37 - They weren't hunting for chocolate eggs and eating Easter ham.
4:42 - What they were doing was hiding.
4:45 - Because they were terrified.
4:46 - They were terrified that the temple authorities, having arranged for the death of Jesus, would be after them next.
4:52 - So step one, plan one was hide.
4:57 - The disciples found their way back to wherever they had, from wherever they had scattered on what none of them ever thought would be called Good Friday.
5:7 - And now Sunday, they gathered behind locked doors, wondering what comes next.
5:14 - That very morning, they'd already heard the hysterical women babbling on about empty tombs and angels and visions.
5:23 - And Mary from Magdala had floated in, her face shining, saying, I have seen the Lord.
5:31 - But she was greeted with raised eyebrows and shaking heads and pitying glances.
5:39 - The women among them seemed a little more receptive to Mary.
5:42 - They had huddled around her and hearing her story again and again with urgent whispers and getting her water and a cool cloth.
5:54 - Throughout the afternoon, Mary would rise to her feet and leave the cluster of women and again try to look the men in the eye.
6:2 - I saw him.
6:3 - He said my name.
6:6 - But none of the disciples would meet her gaze.
6:10 - They just gave each other those looks, those special ones that said, you know, Mary has always been a bit of a nut.
6:17 - And and now she's completely lost it.
6:22 - Unnerved by Mary, Peter and John had even gone so far as to run to the tomb to see for themselves.
6:27 - But all they saw was that the body of Jesus wasn't there anymore.
6:33 - No angels, no earthquakes, just an empty tomb, and just the grave cloths empty on the shelf, just the head cloth rolled up neatly off to one side.
6:46 - So now it was back to the upper room.
6:50 - Windows shuttered and the door barred.
6:55 - And as evening came and as the breezes cooled, as the shadows lengthened, it was the women in one corner lit by Mary's blazing eyes and the men in the other faces dark with worry and grief.
7:7 - They were mourning, they were scared, they were hiding.
7:12 - But at least they were together.
7:16 - And it's together that Jesus meets them.
7:21 - On the evening of that first day of the week when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the temple authorities, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
7:34 - Shalom.
7:37 - On the evening of that first day of the week, not just any day of the week, but that first day of the week, that first Sunday, that evening of the resurrection, when the disciples were together behind locked doors, doors locked for fear.
7:54 - Doors that kept fear in but couldn't keep Jesus out.
7:57 - Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.
8:2 - He came and stood among them, among them together.
8:8 - Peace be with you, he says to his gathered, astonished, disbelieving friends.
8:17 - Now, a couple of things.
8:19 - He doesn't come and stand among them because they were preparing a welcome.
8:23 - The doors were locked tight.
8:26 - He doesn't come because of their great faith.
8:28 - They were terrified about what was coming next.
8:30 - He doesn't come because of their unshakable confidence in the resurrection.
8:35 - They'd heard about it, but they didn't believe it.
8:37 - The men thought the women were hysterical.
8:41 - Jesus doesn't come and stand among them because of their preparations or their great faith or their unshakable confidence.
8:47 - They had none of these things.
8:49 - They're hiding, they're grieving, they're scared, but they're together, they're together.
8:58 - And that's when he comes, when they're together.
9:5 - All but Thomas.
9:7 - Thomas missed it.
9:9 - Thomas had struck out on his own.
9:12 - We read, now Thomas, one of the 12, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
9:20 - Talk about missing out.
9:21 - Where was he?
9:22 - Out for a coffee, out for a walk, out for a smoke, out to buy milk, bread, some hummus, a few figs.
9:31 - Maybe he'd had all he could take of being locked up in that room with all that sorrow, all that tension, all that fear, and he needed a break.
9:38 - Maybe he needed some fresh air.
9:40 - Maybe he needed to watch the sun go down.
9:44 - Had the old doubter wander down side streets and backed alleys and worked up his courage and made his way, made his way surreptitiously to Golgotha, to the tomb, to see if in fact the stone had been rolled away, the tomb empty, nothing inside but the faint odor of the spices which were scattered on the ground.
10:7 - If you ask me, I'll bet that's just where he was, just where he'd been.
10:14 - I have no evidence for that other than my own cynical doubter's heart, but I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas had gone to the tomb at risk of accusation, at risk of arrest, but needing to see for himself.
10:28 - That's where I'd have gone if I wasn't too afraid, if I wasn't hiding.
10:34 - I probably would have been hiding.
10:38 - We don't know why or where Thomas went.
10:40 - What we do know is that he came back, back to the house of hiding, looking over his shoulder for anyone else coming, anyone following, knocking that secret knock on the door, only to his surprise to be led into a room quite different from the one that he'd left.
11:0 - Very different.
11:2 - Furniture was the same, but the people were changed.
11:7 - Very changed.
11:8 - Now they all had that same wild look of joy and amazement that Mary had worn when she had strolled in that morning, saying she had seen the Lord.
11:16 - And now, undeterred by Thomas' scowl, they all crowded around, pumping his hands, slapping his back, grinning their grins, telling him, he was here, he was here, Jesus is alive, alive, alive.
11:30 - And then more laughing and more crying and more hugging and carrying on, and Mary with that, I told you so.
11:36 - So look.
11:39 - But Thomas was having none of it.
11:42 - Unless I see the nail marks in his hand and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand in his side, I won't believe it.
11:56 - Well, that put a stop to the celebration.
12:1 - But Thomas, Thomas, he was right here, right where you're standing.
12:8 - Dropping the groceries to the ground, Thomas turned on his heel and left them to their madness, their stories, their cries of Thomas, come back.
12:17 - And it was down the street, heart filled with anger and sorrow and doubt to wander again alone.
12:30 - And then, a week later, a week, eight days, some say.
12:39 - Imagine if you will what that week was like for Thomas that Sunday after Easter.
12:47 - Imagine how hard a heart can grow in one week.
12:55 - The others were still like children at Hanukkah, all smiles and grins and hugs and wonder.
12:59 - He couldn't stand it.
13:1 - But finally, after seven long days of them begging him to come back, to be with them, to break bread together like the old days, he thought, why not?
13:11 - It's easier than saying no a thousand more times.
13:15 - And he joins them for the evening meal.
13:17 - The doors, it tells us, were locked.
13:21 - Which shows you that underneath all the excitement, there was still a fair bit of fear.
13:26 - But at least they were together a week later, when it happened.
13:33 - Again.
13:36 - Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
13:43 - Shalom.
13:45 - He came and stood among them, among them there, together.
13:50 - Peace be with you, he says to his gathered, astonished, overjoyed friends and Thomas.
13:59 - And you know the story.
14:1 - Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands, reach out your hand, put it in my side.
14:7 - Stop doubting.
14:9 - Believe.
14:12 - And Thomas said to him, my Lord and my God.
14:21 - And Jesus told him, because you have seen me, you have believed.
14:25 - Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.
14:31 - Like you one week after Easter.
14:38 - Well, there are more stories yet.
14:40 - We could go on and talk about how the disciples went to Galilee and how they decided to go fishing.
14:45 - And the Bible tells us, now it happened this way.
14:47 - Simon, Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James and John and two other disciples were together.
14:55 - Where were they?
14:56 - Together.
14:58 - There's that word again.
15:0 - And what happens?
15:1 - Well, once again, together, they see Jesus.
15:8 - Same happens in Matthew, same in Mark, same in Luke.
15:12 - Jesus' followers get together and there he is.
15:17 - With them together.
15:20 - When the Apostle Paul tells the story of the resurrection of Jesus, he tells the same story.
15:24 - He sings the same song.
15:26 - Paul writes this, For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve.
15:44 - And after that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and the sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living.
15:52 - Though some have fallen asleep.
15:55 - Fallen asleep, not describing what some of you are doing right now, but dead, which hopefully none of you are doing right now.
16:4 - Did you get that?
16:5 - Appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and the sisters at the same time, because they were together too.
16:17 - Go to the Book of Acts, same thing.
16:20 - When Jesus ascends to heaven, he tells them not to leave Jerusalem, but to stay together and await the Holy Spirit.
16:28 - And what do they do?
16:29 - Well, we're told they all join together, constantly in prayer along with the women and marry the mother of Jesus and with his brothers together.
16:40 - And then comes the big day, Pentecost.
16:45 - And what do we hear?
16:47 - When the day of Pentecost came, they were all, what's the word?
16:52 - Together in one place.
16:54 - Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
16:59 - And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
17:5 - All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and together began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
17:14 - So when Pentecost?
17:15 - Where?
17:15 - One place.
17:16 - How?
17:17 - Together.
17:17 - And what happens?
17:19 - They experience the astonishing, amazing, energizing, transforming power of the presence of God together.
17:32 - You see a pattern developing here?
17:36 - It seems as Thomas found out that if we want to be a witness to the resurrection, if we want to see Jesus, if we want to experience the astonishing, amazing, energizing, transforming power of the presence of God, it is together that we will do it.
17:55 - The presence of the people around us is as important, is more important than the setting or the music or the sermon or the rest.
18:4 - It doesn't say when they went to the place with the pews of the platform and the cross and Jesus, it doesn't say when they sang to him, they all loved the best, Jesus appeared among them.
18:18 - It doesn't even say, I'm disappointed to discover, when the minister concluded his brilliant sermon, Jesus appeared among them.
18:27 - What it does say is when they were together, Jesus appeared among them.
18:37 - And Jesus tells us it'll happen.
18:40 - Remember when he said, for where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.
18:48 - Think maybe he meant it?
18:51 - I do.
18:52 - I think Jesus means a lot of what he says.
18:55 - And over and over again, he says, love each other, forgive each other, support each other, share with each other, build one another up, be together, and I'll be right there with you together.
19:11 - Now, this means that the person in the pew beside you, in front of you, behind you, or hiding in the balcony, is the most important thing here.
19:25 - More important than the comfy chairs or the piano or the table or the font.
19:33 - Because it is with them and through them, it is together that the presence of God will be made known to you.
19:41 - That makes each and every one of you a vital part of what is going on here.
19:46 - That makes our welcome of one another and our time spent together afterwards and throughout the week such an important part of what we do.
19:56 - Now, sometimes when non-churchgoing people find out I'm a minister, for some reason, probably guilt, they'll often say to me, a person doesn't have to go to church to be a Christian.
20:16 - Of course you do, I'll say.
20:17 - What a ridiculous idea.
20:20 - This generally stuns them.
20:23 - Well, where does it say that in the Bible, they'll demand?
20:27 - In every book of the New Testament, I'll say.
20:30 - Christianity is a community.
20:33 - It's a family.
20:34 - That's how it works.
20:36 - That's how God works with us and through us.
20:39 - When we're together.
20:41 - If you want to catch fish, go where there's water.
20:44 - If you want to catch faith, go where faith is being practiced.
20:48 - If you want to find God, go where God is being worshiped.
20:51 - But if you want to grow, go where others are growing with you.
20:55 - Go visit his family together.
20:59 - It doesn't happen alone.
21:4 - That was a lesson that Thomas had to learn.
21:7 - Nasty, cynical, doubting Thomas finally learned that lesson too.
21:12 - It took some time, the longest week of his life.
21:16 - But finally, together with others, Thomas found himself in the presence of the risen Lord, and he was never the same again.
21:30 - Now, you're here together, I'm preaching to you, to the choir, as it were.
21:37 - But every one of you knows someone who's sitting alone at home right now.
21:43 - Every one of you, loved one, relative, neighbor, friend, they're not here.
21:53 - Maybe they haven't been invited.
21:56 - Maybe they simply don't know what love and joy and wonder they're missing.
22:2 - Maybe we've decided to leave them alone, to be polite, to leave them alone.
22:14 - Maybe they sat home this past week, Easter Sunday morning, alone.
22:20 - Think for a moment about what that means.
22:25 - Alone.
22:28 - Close your eyes for a moment and ask God to make a name, a face, a lonely person appear in your mind right now.
22:38 - Let's take a minute, close your eyes, see what God puts there.
22:46 - That's the person who needs to be here.
22:50 - That's the person you need to invite.
22:52 - That's the person you need to bring.
22:54 - That's the person who needs to be here with us together.
22:58 - If they are to experience the astonishing, amazing, energizing, transforming power of the presence of God, it's together with them that we'll do it.
23:13 - Don't you wish you had been in that room of long ago?
23:22 - The room where Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
23:30 - Boy, if I had a time machine, that's the spot.
23:37 - That's where I'd be.
23:39 - Be there with his gathered, astonished, overjoyed friends.
23:42 - Don't you wish you had been in that same room?
23:49 - Well, you are.
23:52 - You are.
23:54 - You are here where God is together with God's people.
23:59 - You are in that room worshiping God who comes to you and says in Jesus Christ, peace be with you.
24:11 - But this time, let's make sure not to lock the doors.
24:17 - This time, open them wide.
24:19 - The time for locked doors is long over.
24:22 - Let's fling them open and bring others in to share the joy.
24:26 - Not wait for them to wander in without any clue as to what on earth they're doing.
24:32 - Invite and bring.
24:34 - I am here today.
24:36 - I am a Christian today because 50 years ago, someone invited me.
24:47 - Let's open the doors wide and bring others to share the joy together.
24:54 - For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.
25:4 - Thanks be to God.
25:7 - Amen.
25:13 - A bonus word, no extra charge for this.
25:21 - At Zion, where I was the minister prior to my retirement, we'd had a tape ministry, bring tapes to shut-ins, people who couldn't attend the service, so they could hear what was going on.
25:33 - And then we graduated to a video system, and with the glories of the internet, we began to broadcast our services.
25:44 - It was wonderful because people who hadn't been able to come to church for so long, because they were shut in, they were isolated, were able to see and experience in a greater way what was going on.
25:55 - And we had, under God's guidance, just upgraded our whole video system a week prior to COVID hitting.
26:5 - God has this habit of preparing us for things we have no idea are coming.
26:11 - And then our subscribership and our viewing on our YouTube channel just went completely through the roof, enough, I'm happy and delighted to say, to completely shut down our whole national office web server, which was trying to broadcast the thing.
26:29 - And so COVID came and we were able to actually increase our ministry and increase the impact of our ministry.
26:37 - And then COVID ended and something unanticipated happened.
26:44 - A lot of people who used to come found out, you know, I can just turn on YouTube and wear my fuzzy slippers and my house coats and drink my coffee and eat my croissant and watch church instead of being a part of church.
27:5 - And a lot of those people never came back or did so only infrequently.
27:15 - And while I am thankful that there are so many people who wouldn't be able to come to church because of all kinds of situations, age, infirmity, whatever, I'm so glad they're able to be a part of a service through a broadcast like this.
27:32 - But for those who can come, come, be together, and don't miss the presence of God in this place with these people in this time.
27:50 - And if you haven't been back, come back, come back and experience the joy and the wonder of the presence of God in a way you just can't do alone.
28:6 - With that in mind, let's pray.
28:13 - Dear God, we give you thanks that we can be together, together with one another and so together with you.
28:23 - Help us Lord God to be people who help others to experience the joy of presence together with you.
28:31 - Those faces which appeared in our minds, Lord God give us the courage, give us the will, give us the desire to reach out and to invite them here, invite them back.
28:46 - For those Lord God who cannot be here, but who can be through the magic of the video service, we're grateful that we are able to provide this service.
28:59 - But for all who can, Lord God, bring them back and help us be instruments of that welcome, we pray.
29:6 - Help us to know that when we are together with those who seek to follow you, then we are in a way we can't be in any other way together with Jesus.
29:20 - And for that and for your constant blessing, we give you thanks in Christ our Lord.
29:25 - And together the people say, Amen.