Faithful Thomas

Second Sunday of Easter (Year C)

John 20.19-31

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 17:55)

 

If there was ever an election to select a saint for our times, for our contemporary age, Thomas would get my vote. Of the many names given to the times we live in, one of the most common used in secular society is “the information age.” An age in which we generate and consume more information than ever before. An age that is defined by the use—and I would add, abuse—of information. An age which has seen the advent of “fake news.” That has seen self-proclaimed experts and pundits of all political persuasions spin stories and twist their explanations of what should be observable events in ways that would make the most accomplished of contortionists blush. An age in which so much of what is presented as news, as fact, bears no relation to the objective truth. It’s absolutely dizzying and mind-boggling. Its times such as these in which we need the likes of our friend Thomas. The one so often referred to as “Doubting Thomas.” A moniker which, in itself, is actually an unjustified spin on the events of the actual encounter Thomas has with Jesus. The result of fake news, if you will.

 

Let’s take a look at our Gospel account. An objective look. Or as objective as we can get given the information presented.

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The New Normal

 Easter Day (Year C)

Acts 10.34-43; John 20.1-18

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 22:15)

 

Today has been a long time coming! The last time we celebrated Easter Sunday in-person was in 2019. I’m sure we all recall the beginning of the pandemic and the mandatory stay-at-home order that went into effect on March 20^th of 2020. At that time, when the Bishop ordered the cancelling of all in-person worship, he was hopeful that this would all be behind us and we would be back to in-person worship within three or four weeks. Just in time for Easter 2020. And all us clergy were talking about what a glorious Easter that would be, as we celebrated Christ’s resurrection and the end of the pandemic. Right. Not only was church not reopened by Easter, we were not even allowed to live stream from within the church at that time. Instead, our Easter service was live streamed from my dining room. I have to tell you, that was a pretty depressing Easter. At the end of the service, I closed my laptop and started crying. Sure, we had celebrated the Lord’s resurrection. We had brought back the “Alleluias.” We had even sung two quintessential Easter hymns: “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” and “The Strife is O’er.” And yet, it did not feel like Easter. I did not feel as if Christ had risen. At the least, the Body of Christ that is St. Gregory’s had not risen. And the strife was not o’er. As it turned out, it was just beginning.

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Why Do You Look for the Living Among the Dead?

 Great Vigil of Easter (Year C)

Luke 24.1-12

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 1:07:20)

 

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” These are the words that the angels spoke to the women at the tomb. Maybe I’m being a little too literal, but the women were not looking for the living. They were looking for a dead body. Jesus’ dead body. To prepare it according to their burial customs. But, as we see, this was really the angels’ way of reminding the women of what Jesus had told them before they even came to Jerusalem. That after he was crucified, he would rise again on the third day. That new life can—and in this case, does—come out of death. And, of course, the angels do then confirm for the women that Jesus has risen.

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Solidarity

 Good Friday

John 18.1—19.42

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 33:15)

 

How do we begin to make sense of the horrific events that we commemorate on Good Friday? Theologians have been debating that pretty much since the first Good Friday. Trying to understand just what happened. Why it happened. Why it had to happen. And even how it happened. Not how as in the mechanics of Jesus being nailed on the cross, but how as in just how did Jesus’ death accomplish what we claim that it accomplished? That his death and subsequent resurrection defeated sin and death. In short, what is collectively known as atonement theory. Fear not. I am not even going to attempt to delve into atonement theory. Because between you and me, I don’t find any of the classical theories of the atonement particularly satisfying. Or, for that matter, particularly reasonable if our God is who we say God is: all loving, merciful, and compassionate. For me, the specifics of atonement are a great mystery, understanding of which is way above my paygrade. That it ultimately boils down to a matter of faith. One of the central tenants of our faith as Christians.

 

And yet. And yet. We still feel a need for some sort of explanation to help us understand just a little of what this has been all about. As in such truly unexplainable events, there are undoubtedly a variety of ways of looking at what happened on Good Friday. Of explaining why Jesus had to die on the cross. I think one of the best explanations—at least one that makes about as much sense as any, at least for me—is solidarity. That Jesus underwent suffering and death out of solidarity with us.

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The Right Place at the Right Time

Palm/Passion Sunday (Year C)

Luke 22.14—23.56

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 40:30)

 

Today, with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we formally begin our journey through Holy Week. Where we witness Jesus’ final days. Where we witness his Passion—his betrayal, his arrest, his trial, his torture, his sentencing to death, his journey along the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha, his execution. On Palm Sunday, or what is sometimes referred to as Passion Sunday, we are provided with an overview of the week’s events. Giving us the lay of the land. And then, throughout the remainder of the week, on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, we delve more deeply into the events of those days.

 

Looking at the arc of events, this year I find there is one verse, one image, in today’s Passion Narrative that has captured my attention. Focusing on a single person. One who, in many ways, serves as a guide for what will happen. Not so much a guide through the week, but one who can serve as a guide for understanding what this means for us and our lives of faith. “As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.” (Lk 23.26). Simon of Cyrene. An obscure character, to say the least. Yet, as we shall see, one who serves as an exemplar for how we can begin to approach the horrific events of this week and help us to be transformed by them.

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Through Faith in Christ

Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year C)

Philippians 3.4b-14; John 12.1-8

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 15:45)

 

On the first Sunday in Lent this year, I preached a sermon that I entitled “Making it Through the Wilderness.” I talked about Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil. I went on to talk about how this story and other biblical stories of wilderness experiences provide an image for our own wilderness times: times of being tempted and tested. How our Lenten journey, if anything, is an image for what those times of tempting and testing have been about in our own lives. How our Lenten journey is not so much about the specifics of the temptations, but about our responses to those temptations which may come between us and our relationship with God. That regardless of the specific temptations, Jesus tells us there is a universal response. That we are to recognize our reliance upon God. Because it is in relying on God, in being obedient to God, that we open ourselves to be molded and shaped by God. In so doing, we have the opportunity to live into the fullness of who God creates and calls us to be as his beloved children.

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