Let the Church Arise from Doubt

Dear Companions in Christ,

Standing in the wake of the first in-person Easter Sunday service we’ve had in almost three years, it’s hard not to be grateful for the opportunity to once again celebrate the resurrection with you - all amid the sounds of trumpets, the aromas of Easter breakfast, and the delightfully colorful flowers of the season! I don’t know about you, but I was ready for such a morning!

Yet year after year, on the Sunday following this mountaintop experience, we find ourselves back in an uncomfortable, even if familiar place. John’s gospel shares the story of “Doubting Thomas,” which some of you certainly recognize as a misnomer. I even go as far as saying that Thomas is something of our patron saint.

I can’t quite put it in a better form than many writers already have, including Miguel de Uanmuno, who said “those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself (sic).” That’s a pretty complex statement to unpack and appreciate, but suffice it to say that this Sunday, I hope to explore some of the many faces of “doubt, disillusionment, and despair” as nearly inevitable aspects of a discipleship journey. Many of you will recognize at least one of these attributes as a contemporary companion.

During the Lenten season, I’ve joined many of our members in appreciating Kate Bowlers’ “Beatitudes” as found in her new volume, “Good Enough.” So perhaps it’s fitting to this “teaser” in the form of Brian McLaren’s equivalents which conclude his volume “Faith After Doubt.”

“Blessed are the curious, for their curiosity honors reality.

Blessed are the uncertain and those with second thoughts, for their minds are still open.

Blessed are the wonders, or they shall find what is wonderful.

Blessed are those who question their answers, for their horizons will expand forever.

Blessed are those who often feel foolish, for they are wiser than those who always think themselves wise.

Blessed are those who know their unknowing, for they shall have the last laugh.

Blessed are the perplexed , for they have reached the frontiers of contemplation.

Blessed are they who have become cynical about their cynicism and suspicious of their suspicion, for they will enter a second innocence.

Blessed are the doubters, for they shall see through false gods.”

Hope to see you in worship, in our engaging new Adult Forum series, in “Family Sunday School,” and/or at next weekend’s NAMI Walk (4/30)!

Another pilgrim in faith,

Pastor Tim

Maundy Thursday to Easter

In the Gospel of John, chapter 13, we pause as we listen, each with our own on-going story in this very life we live right here and now. We lean into the message of sorrow that breaks free into a new life with great joy.

Jesus was nearing the end of his three years of ministry on earth. Jesus was participating in the Hebrew celebration of freedom from slavery called Passover (v1). Judas was already determined to betray Jesus to the soldiers (v2). Jesus washed their feet (vs4-17). Jesus was known to the people as rabbi, teacher, Lord, and Son of God (vs. 13-14). He told this small group of disciples, followers, his pupils, who were also his friends that he had come to serve, to glorify God in him (v32). He revealed to them that everything he had done and will do was out of love for all of the children of God (vs 34-35).

Let’s stay in that moment of truth for a bit longer. The truth is that, in every step of this journey of Holy Week, Jesus did and does out of love for all the children of God. That includes you and me.

On this very day, in a world that seems to be aching for hope, we listen to the scriptures as Jesus gives of himself to wash the filth off of the feet of his followers, off of your feet, off of all of our feet. Then he takes on the greatest act of grace; he offers his own body and his blood, all of out of an act of selfless love. We hear this message and we are invited to know first-hand the love our God has for all of God’s children.

Oh, how this is a story we need to hear over and over again! We give it space in the busyness of our day so it can resonate with our longing to hear of God’s gift of compassion and mercy. God’s promise of life-everlasting is now our very own story of grace.

You were made for a time just like now, to pause, to be a witness, and receive the love from and through Jesus.

We are called to share this story of God-size hope with those who have not seen, nor tasted, do not yet know, and yet they long to hear the Good News. Our response to this timeless and unlimited amazing story of grace is, “thank you, Jesus.”

Imagine that space of silence; and in the noise where you truly listen to God’s message of hope—that you were made out of love to be loved, to love one another now and always.

Amen

Pastor Katie

Go into the World: Grace

Dear Companions in Christ,

After making our way through almost the entirely of the Lenten season, it’s good for me to look back and reflect on the fruit that has been harvested from it. Some of you engaged in disciplines of “giving up” or “taking up” a 40-day challenge. Some of you elected to serve in a new way over these past few weeks. Some of you utilized our seasonal study guide within your families, while others, including our “Agape” small group, pursued a humbling and reflective study together based on the recent writings of Kate Bowler.

Whatever the nature of your own investment, I’m humbled and encouraged to be in your midst. I’m a bit chagrined as to how “spotty” my own practices have been over these weeks. I could point to all kinds of competing obstacles, make any number of excuses, or exercise a host of ready defenses; but each of those would miss both the point and the opportunity that has been before me.

This week, we enter yet another distinct chapter together - Holy Week with Jesus. We begin this weekend with the pageantry of a Palm Sunday celebration, marked by hopes being high and passion for justice and deliverance most evident. Yet the day marks just how quickly and effortlessly the mood suddenly shifts with that passion now being re-directed to naming a scapegoat for all of the frustration, oppression, and exasperation that the crowds in Jerusalem were feeling. My hope is that we’ll experience firsthand - at least in a formal sort of way - just how inevitably our own excuses, defenses, and rationalizations of such temptations become part of our own story today.

We’ll continue to walk with Jesus through this most distinctively uncomfortable week by recalling his last Supper with his disciples on Maundy Thursday (7:00 p.m.), when he modeled the nature of his leadership by washing their feet. We then gather again on Good Friday (once more at 7:00 p.m.) to experience the darkness of that Jerusalem garbage dump where the crucifixion took place, perhaps trying to appreciate anew how God was able and willing to take the ugliest of evil circumstance and to use it as a vehicle for establishing hope.

Our Sunday School youth will be taking a related journey through these events starting at 9:40, attempting once more to grasp a fresh perspective on what their own experience of forgiveness has cost Jesus and what has been possible as a result. Meanwhile, our new Adult Forum series on “Listening with Love” provides an excellent opportunity to be able to grow in our appreciation for and ability tobe the kind of neighbors, companions, and fellow pilgrims of faith that we long to be.

Wherever you are on the path of following Christ, I hope and pray that you’ll join in helping us to create and to experience all that this week can be.

Another pilgrim,

Pastor Tim