Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 4:32-35 Psalm 133 1 John 1:1-2:2 John 20:19-31 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who comes to us in community. Amen Today we hear reinforced in our readings that for better or worse, the way Jesus has decided to come to us, to continue the relationship post resurrection is through community, namely the community of disciples that gathers in Jesus’ name, or as we sometimes call it ‘the Church’ with a capital ‘C’ Thomas was absent the first time Jesus appeared to the community of the disciples, and while his demands have been played up as doubt vs the disciples’ belief, all Thomas wanted is what the other disciples first received, to see Jesus, and when he is with the community the next week Jesus comes again and Thomas has his chance and exclaims “My Lord and my God.’ Out of Thomas’ questioning comes deep faith, facilitated by the community gathered. Then the gospel writer takes the opportunity to offer a blessing for all of us who have believed without placing our hands on the resurrected Jesus as Thomas had opportunity to. We may not have placed our finger in the spot on Jesus’ hands where the nails when in, nor have we place our hand in his side where the soldier’s sword pierced him but we have all encountered the body of Christ on earth, we would not be here today had we not come into contact at some point with that body and members who make up that body, who brought Jesus to us and into our lives, because that is how the gospel message is spread, through the community. We heard in Acts, the history book of the early church, how the church formed and spread after the ascension of Jesus, how the believers were of one heart and soul, how they gathered together to hear the testimony of the apostles and how each member of the community was as valued as the next, as lived out in the distribution of communal property such that poverty in the community was wiped out. Other places in Acts tell how this community attracted more and more believers every day. Now I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like a pretty good community to be a part of. In confirmation this week our lesson, serendipitously was on The Church, each lesson starts out with a Bible passage and questions to get us into the lesson and this week the passage was a very similar passage in Acts as our first reading, and the writers of the curriculum remarked that the description of the early church sounded like a party that anyone would want to join, then asked the confirmands to consider how the actions of the church members helped or hindered how Christ’s message first spread. In talking about it we agreed that the character of the community had a lot to do with the success of the early church, and then we agreed that it is still the case, how church members and communities act make or break how the message of Christ is spread, whether or not people want to take part in the community, the primary place in which God chooses to be revealed in the world. And if the community is like the one described in Acts, that’s great, but we don’t have to think very hard to find an example of when a community did not live in a way that made people want to take part in the community in fact I think it might almost be easier to think of negative examples, the times of exclusion, hate, petty bickering and power dynamics and all of a sudden what sounded like gospel the proclamation that Jesus comes to us in community, starts to sound like law, because we are intimately aware of the fact that the church is not perfect, nor are the people that make up the church perfect and yet we’re the primary way that Jesus uses to build relationships with people? That’s a lot of pressure, there is a lot riding on our imperfect selves and the imperfect community we make up. But lest our despair at our imperfections cause us to give up on the community , as so many have done, there is a word of grace, forgiveness, that when we sin we have an advocate in Jesus Christ. John, in our second reading addresses the reality of the Christian community, both the good and the bad, his description of how the community works is beautiful, how the older community members share their experiences and build relationships with new community members so that in these relationships, relationship with God is built, and then John acknowledges the reality that communities don’t always practice what they preach, just saying we have fellowship with God is not enough, we must also live out that fellowship. oddly enough John doesn’t seem too concerned about the particulars of the sin present in the community, he acknowledges that it’s better not to sin but if anyone does there is forgiveness in Christ Jesus, what John seems more concerned about is the failure to acknowledge our sin, our imperfections, from this passage we get the line that is used in confession and forgiveness “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The key then to the Christian community is authenticity rather than perfection, I mean which community would you rather belong to? one that pretends it’s perfect and points out others’ imperfections or one that acknowledges its faults, asks for forgiveness and moves forward with the intent of not repeating those past mistakes or harmful actions. I know which one I choose, and strive to create. and perhaps that’s the genius of God working through an imperfect community and imperfect people, it’s the way to connect with others who are not perfect and to share with them the grace that has transformed our lives. One person who has lived this out in a very public way that comes to mind is Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, she’s a Lutheran pastor and public theologian and author and has been quite open about her struggles in life with addiction, and through her openness about her imperfections and her experience of grace God has used her to gather a community of people, many of whom who have felt excluded by other Christian communities in the past because of their imperfections. I’ve heard her speak several times and a couple times she’s mentioned that some people at her church have told her they feel less intimidated coming and confessing to her because they know that she’s done way worse things and that God has forgiven her. When we’re in a less than ideal situation, it’s comforting to know that there is someone else who has been through it and survived and thrived, and that is the essence of Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, who has experienced everything we do, even death and who live and loves us still, in fact on Maundy Thursday we heard Jesus command the disciples “to love one another as I have loved you, by this everyone will know that you are my followers, if you have love for one another.” The mark of the community gathered around Jesus is love, Jesus love, that he first shared in a community, that he continues to share in community. Jesus comes to us in community, Jesus comes to us in community so that as a community we can live and share the gospel message of Jesus’ love. That is why we are all here, imperfections and all, to experience the love of God through one another, and to share that experience with the whole world so that like Thomas all may exclaim “My Lord and my God.” Amen
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
March 2022
Categories
All
|