More Profound Than You Know
If those in the gospel narratives knew they would be included in the story, what would they do different?
Dear Church Family,
I don’t recall how old I was. Like Fox and most other young people my age, I liked bubble gum. My Mom and I, and maybe my brother Paul, discussed chewing gum in church. She wasn’t adding to Mom’s 10 Commandments. Instead, she was helping us avoid future embarrassment.
Mom told us a story about Brother Justice and chewing gum. Brother Justice is the first pastor I remember. He was the pastor that baptized me and my brother Paul. When Brother Justice’s son, Paul, was a teenager, he was working his chewing gum one Sunday as his dad preached. Evidently distracted, Brother Justice stopped his sermon and admonished his son,
Paul, go spit your gum out!
Mom did not want us to end up in Brother Justice’s sermon.
Sunday morning, Scott handed me a small box as he came in for Easter worship. “I got this for you.” After worship, Scott asked if I had opened the box. I had not. Quickly I retrieved the box and opened it. It was the mug in the photo above.
Be careful or you will end up in my sermon.
I laughed. There is a tightwire to walk if ever you plan to use someone in your sermon illustration, especially if 1) they are still alive and 2) if they still attend your church. Some take it in stride and find the humor in it all. Others, not so much. Worse yet is when a preacher talks about themselves as the story's hero. After all, we have but one person to whom we should point.
Sunday, we continue our Eastertide series, Story and Promise. Even though Jesus pitched the question back to Pilate when asked if he was king of the Jews, twice we read that the Scriptures point to Jesus. To the religious leaders in John’s gospels, Jesus said,
You search the Scriptures for in them you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf. (John 5:39)
John writes his gospel, telling readers that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah.
Then, on the road to Emmaus in Lule 24, Jesus responds to the incredulity of the two disciples. The two want to know where Jesus has been because he does not know about the horrible things that happened in Jerusalem. Luke wrote,
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. (Luke 24:27)
One of our scripture readings for this Sunday is from John 20. For some, it is the familiar story of Thomas, who gets labeled doubting. Many a sermon, and some I have preached occasionally, make the sermon about Thomas and doubting. The logic for such a sermon is to arrest us in our doubts. “Don’t be Thomas!” we may admonish. Maybe we preachers hope to help you avoid being in someone else’s sermon.
Imagine if Thomas knew that all these years later, Thomas himself had become the story's center.
As true as our doubts may be, the good news is not found in Thoma’s doubting. We may find in Thomas an empathic figure. We may be consoled that even someone living in the first century, who had the eyewitnesses he had, still had doubts. But that is still not really good news. Too often, even unintentionally, we make all the stories about us. How would this make me a better spouse, parent, employee, supervisor, etc.?
Soon we are the central figure in the story. We are what it is all about. And we become dissatisfied when we don’t hear sermons that make the story about us.
What if we reframed the story? If instead of finding a way to be in the sermon, what if the sermon, in this instance where Thomas is a key figure, is more about how Jesus responded to Thomas’s doubt? Like Grunewald’s image of John the Baptist pointing to Jesus, how do we hear the story of Thomas as Thomas pointing to Jesus?
Take time to read our Scriptures for Sunday.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32 • Psalm 16 • 1 Peter 1:3-9 • John 20:19-31
And, if you plan now to be here, you may turn what is traditionally called Low Sunday, so called for low attendance after Easter, into a Sunday where we gather again to hear the Good News that Jesus changes our story.
Glad I’m Your Pastor,
Todd
Things to know
Finance Team Meeting, April 16 at 5 p.m.
Quarterly Business Meeting, April 16 at 6 p.m.
Parent/Youth Meeting, April 23 at 5 p.m.
Youth Fellowship, April 23 at 6 p.m.
Let’s expand our Nursery Teams. Would you consider serving the little ones every 6-8 weeks? If you have in the past and have taken a break, would you consider returning to serve our little ones? Talk to Kimberly Ragsdale
Summit Youth Camp - June 5-10
Summer Vacation Bible School - June 1114. Where will you serve?