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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>S</span><span>ermons for Easter 2</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>John 20:19-31 - "Thomas" </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>John 20:19-31 - "Touched" by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>John 20 the sermon title "Thomas"</span><span><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"></font></font></span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>If I were to
mention the names of certain disciples to you and ask you to write down
the first word that comes into your mind, it is unlikely you would come
up with the same words. If I were to mention the name of Judas many of
you would write down the word "betray" but not all of you. If I were to
mention Simon Peter, some of you would write down the word "faith," but
not all of you. If I were to mention the names of James and John, some
of you would write down the phrase "Sons of Thunder," but not all of
you. But when I mention the word Thomas, there is little question about
the word most everyone would write down. It would be the word doubt.
Indeed, so closely have we associated Thomas with this word, that we
have coined a phrase to describe him: "Doubting Thomas."<br>
<br>
You may
be interested to know that in the first three gospels we are told
absolutely nothing at all about Thomas. It is in John's Gospel that he
emerges as a distinct personality, but even then there are only 155
words about him. There is not a lot about this disciple in the Bible but
there is more than one description. <br>
<br>
When Jesus turned his face
toward Jerusalem the disciples thought that it would be certain death
for all of them. Surprisingly, it was Thomas who said: Then let us go so
that we may die with him. It was a courageous statement, yet we don't
remember him for that. We also fail to point out that in this story of
Thomas' doubt we have the one place in the all the Gospels where the
Divinity of Christ is bluntly and unequivocally stated. It is
interesting, is it not, that the story that gives Thomas his infamous
nickname, is the same story that has Thomas making an earth shattering
confession of faith? Look at his confession, "My Lord, and my God." Not
teacher. Not Lord. Not Messiah. But God! It is the only place where
Jesus is called God without qualification of any kind. It is uttered
with conviction as if Thomas was simply recognizing a fact, just as 2 + 2
= 4, and the sun is in the sky. You are my Lord and my God! These are
certainly not the words of a doubter.<br>
<br>
Unfortunately history has
remembered him for this scene where the resurrected Christ made an
appearance to the disciples in a home in Jerusalem. Thomas was not
present and when he heard about the event he refused to believe it.
Maybe he was the forerunner of modern day cynicism. Maybe the news
simply sounded too good to be true. Thomas said: Unless I feel the nail
prints in his hands I will not believe.<br>
<br>
Now I cannot help but
notice that Thomas has separated himself from the disciples and
therefore, in his solitude, missed the resurrection appearance. I think
that john is suggesting to us that Christ appears most often within the
community of believers that we call the church, and when we separate
ourselves from the church we take a chance on missing his unique
presence.<br>
<br>
But the story doesn't end here. The second time Jesus
made his appearance Thomas was present with the disciples and this time
he too witnessed the event. This time he believed. What can we learn
from the life of Thomas?</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>1. Jesus did not blame him.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>2. The most endearing things in life can never be proven.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>3. We must move beyond doubt to faith. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_______________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Members: John 20 the sermon titled "Touched" by Leonard Sweet </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>We now live in a
"virtual" world. A TGiF world where T=Twitter, G=Google, i=iPads/iPhones
(and all the other i-devices), and F=Facebook. In the next couple of
months, Facebook will be going public. The only questions are a) whether
Facebook's IPO be the biggest IPO in American history; b) how soon this
summer will Facebook reach 1 billion users (that's 1/7 of the planet's
population); and c) whether or not Facebook is really worth 100 billion
dollars? </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Regardless of how
you answer those questions, all of life now happens "online" in some way
or fashion, according to some view or on some venue. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>There is good and bad about this TGIF world. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A bad? We leave our
kids to fend and to fashion an identity for themselves out of
mass-mediated images. At least three things are wrong with this: 1) mass
(not personalized and customized); 2) mediated (not parented or
purposed); 3) images (not real life). </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A good? Distance is
dead. Social media can bring us into relationships with people we have
physically never met, and can build bonds between cultures and causes
that are separated by half the world's geography. Every revolution,
every conflict, now happens in our own "virtual" backyard or village
commons. We are touched by people and events we will never ever
physically encounter. Yet they are up-close and personal to us because
of online connections. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>It is a connected
world. Every one now can be an island, since even islands are no longer
isolated. No one with a computer or cell lives alone.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>It was so not so in
the first century. As Jesus was being tortured and crucified, taken off
the cross and buried, almost all his followers fled. The few remaining
witnesses were (luckily for them) considered inconsequential</span><span>--</span><span>women,
hangers-on, etc.. But Jesus' followers fled for a reason. They knew it
was likely they would be considered traitors, conspiratorial enemies of
Rome. They knew it was likely they were already on Rome's "Most Wanted"
list. Can you really blame Jesus' disciples for fleeing from Golgotha
and locking down in anonymous hired rooms in Jerusalem? Out of sight,
out of mind, was not a bad game plan as far as Jesus' followers were
concerned...</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_______________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>We Know Where We Are Going</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The story is told
about Albert Einstein, the brilliant physicist of Princeton University
in the early 20th century. Einstein was traveling from Princeton on a
train, and when the conductor came down the aisle to punch the
passengers' tickets, Einstein couldn't find his. He looked in his vest
pocket, he looked in his pants pocket, he looked in his briefcase, but
there was no ticket. The conductor was gracious; "Not to worry, Dr.
Einstein, I know who you are, we all know who you are, and I'm sure you
bought a ticket."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>As the conductor
moved down the aisle, he looked back and noticed Einstein on his hands
and knees, searching under the seat for his ticket. The conductor
returned to Einstein; "Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't worry. I know
who you are. You don't need a ticket, I'm sure you bought one." Einstein
arose and said "Young man, I too know who I am; what I don't know is
where I am going."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>And that is the
good news of Easter; that we know where we are going. We have been told
by the Savior that his life and death has promised us life eternal. And
Low Sundays don't change that promise. And unemployment doesn't change
that promise. Neither does divorce, or bankruptcy, or cancer, or
depression, or felony, or failure. Through elation and deflation and
every emotion in between, this truth remains; we know whose we are and
we know where we are going, because the Son of God has promised. And
this, my friends, is faith. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Steven Molin, Elated....Deflated</span></div>
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