"The Perfect Struggle;" Sermon for April 3rd, 2016 by Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

I think a good number of us would have a really hard time wrapping our minds around things that just seem way too fantastic to believe…  Miracles do happen however, and contrary to our imaginations, they can be quite small or even pass us by without us even noticing.  Like in the flint of an eye, God’s timing in our lives continues to allude and perplex us.  Though by Grace, we have been commissioned to be His witnesses! This we must never forget.

Ordinary people made extraordinary through the beauty and challenge the Gospel weighs upon our hearts to incorporate.  That’s the story of Thomas as well as for all the disciples who would take heed perhaps begrudgingly at first, Jesus’ Words: “Come, Follow me…”  Remember they weren’t supposed to be a suggestion, they were meant to be a command!  Well, we’re not perfect—that is definitely not a news flash about our reality.  We’re so not perfect that perhaps at times, we’ve gone over and above in justifying our imperfections to then make God’s Holy Spirit challenge to us something to dismiss as not being relevant to our agendas and self-made goals.

Who in this room this morning or any morning for that matter believes in “Angels?”  Who for that matter, believes that they could even encounter one in their everyday lives?  We’re not that important…. At least not in the way we think we are.  God does send out His messengers however—both in human form as well as in the supernatural forms we can’t and shouldn’t claim to understand but simply believe!  We would rather hide under the covers or lock ourselves away from something we can’t see yet alone begin to understand…

Are we returning to being those disciples hidden away in our homes, away from the persecuting intellectualism of a growing secular quote progressive culture?  Is it really progressive to dismiss the miraculous? Or doubt that God even still has teachable moments in our lives for a particular purpose that is NOT following what we’ve been planning or even want? The Book of Acts is a fabulous testimony to the Holy Spirit’s formation of not only the disciples after Jesus Resurrection and Ascension… but a testimony to what we are all called to DO and BE both individually and as the Body in this world but not truly, spiritually of it.

Being a person of faith especially where we are in this day and age is even more of a challenge.  This goes beyond the weight of commitment placed upon the heart but truly weighing in upon the fantastic and unreal within your own spiritual formation’s journey—BELIEF.  Get ready though, for if your faith does open those doors to the unknown, to seeing beyond understanding…. You will be persecuted even by your brothers and sisters in Christ! What a beautiful door to open however!

It would be poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson who was quoted to say: “There lives more faith in honest doubt..."  Doubting is easy for if we can’t claim to truly understand, why go beyond it and just BELIEVE?  According to what has been historically pieced together after the Book of Acts or should I say beyond it, is the amazing individual journeys of all of the disciples.  Thomas was soon to be sent to be a missionary to India.  That would also soon be the place of his death… martyrdom

Just this past Good Friday it was reported world-wide that ISIS related extremists not only murdered a group of Mother Theresa’s nuns but crucified their priest!  Of course, there were no gory pictures to display only the shock and horrors expressed in prayer for the loss of these people dedicated to God to both love and serve neighbor.  But it hasn’t really made much of a note past social media and some obscure news sources.  On Easter Sunday, a group of Christian women and children were nearly all massacred by suicide bombers…  And now the latest news which seem to echo the mission and plan of the Holocaust… Syrian ISIS militants are now holding the remaining Syrian Christians captive…  Most likely to diabolically and systematically murder them all as well.

As we have hopefully learned from the past, what we most fear and try to destroy never succeeds to fruition but in fact restores us back to struggling with having, living, being in faith. Former Catholic Monk Thomas Moore says it beautifully in connecting today’s texts for me, he says: “The meaning and purpose of life are great mysteries, and in that light of a very brief life, of only minutes, can be full and rounded. The soul has appeared in the flesh; then it returns to its home of origin. A life has been lived.”

Yes the meaning and purpose of life is a great mystery but one that is grounded with Christ Jesus the Lord, at its center.  The center of all—the sovereignty and purpose of the Kingdom of God exampled in perfect love, obedience and submission by Christ.  The disciples in today’s reading from the Book of Acts, knew this and even after their imprisonment by the leaders of the Temple, God’s messenger Angel frees them to preach in the temple.

“All that I know, what I can do—God has told me to tell you, God gives you everything you could ever want, need to feel contentment.”  This is not even really the exact placement of these few words since it repeats and changes ever so slightly each and every night often keeping me barely asleep for hours on end. Who is it? Where is it coming from? Do I really need to know?  The voice is obviously saying something wonderful and prayerful though I really can’t fathom its purpose at the moment. Do I need to?

Why can’t I just hear these Words and not be a little afraid of something I can’t fully understand? Do I need to be like Thomas and see the Angel’s form in front of me at my bedside whispering in my ear? Or see it as a loving family member sent down to guard me against evil and encourage me on?  Trust me, this has been very hard for me… dare I say, surreal to even share… but look at the disciples and their witness in the world!  The entire Book of Acts has them boldly if not brazenly making testimony to the reality and heart of the Gospel: Jesus Christ is Lord!

Maybe just like that conversion experience now nearly twelve plus years ago, it is a little miracle?  Hearing from God truly speaking to the heart as that Holy Spirit guide—not just something we explain away with doctrine and dogma… but a REAL genuine happening! It’s human to be scared by it, it’s definitely the challenge of being a disciple as well to share it. God’s mysteries may remain just that mystery, secret… but our faith doesn’t and shouldn’t have to be.

Perhaps it’s too much for us to want to be held accountable to?  Leave that for Sunday morning, where we gather under buttressed beams and the outside world’s light beams through shaded, shaped glass upon us… but maybe not truly through to us!  Prayer is praise in the heart to stir those fibers of faith to weave together who we really are through Christ Jesus—Children of Grace and promise.  As children of Grace and promise we are commanded by Christ to come follow with imperfect obedience, submission and love…. We DO these things because our hearts are compelled to, maybe we need not to understand or SEE the complete picture right now.

I love to joke on occasion that I would love to ask Jesus a few questions when I die.  One of the first one’s would be to see the entire Gospel as a film as well as the Book of Acts…  Jesus would then point to a cloud and the movie would begin… Well~ we have no idea what that would really look like but here we are with this one earthly life—spiritual beings living upon this gift of creation for a much greater purpose!

Let us hear Jesus’ Words directly to us standing in Thomas’ place: “²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Can we hear this truthfully in our hearts beyond it being 2,000 something year old Words?  Can we hear this as those angel’s words coming to us at all hours of the day or night?  Can they haunt us to build our faith without seeking understanding?

The Gospel of John offers this beautiful conclusion that should inspire us to boldly turn those pages in our own faith story to boldly step forward and out with the Good News: “³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in His name.” Life is what you make it… but doesn’t have to be.

Let us pray,

Gracious Lord Jesus

May our doubts be washed away

Along with our fears

May we harbor and build upon a faith that doesn’t necessarily seek to be understood…

But be lovingly obedient and submissive to Your plan and purposes

Let us not fear Your messengers, Your miracles whatever form they present themselves as in our lives

For Your timing and Your Grace

Should always strengthen and encourage us to continue on.

For there, indeed, is tremendous life in Your Name…

AMEN

April 3rd, 2016; 2nd Sunday of Easter; Year C; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon By: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins, FODM

Psalm 148; Acts 5:12-32; Revelation 1:4-18; & John 20:19-31

~Below is a link to this sermon's delivery at the Grace Hub Lutheran Orthodox Church's house service at 8am:
https://youtu.be/3JIt7gFeW_4