Doubting Thomas???

Sermon

April 15, 2012

Lynne Coates

(Lay preacher at Emmanuel)

Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2

In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.

As you probably know by now, I like to start my sermons with a story.

Here’s a little story about faith and the lack of it. You may have heard it before.

A very critical, negative barber never had a good thing to say about anyone or anything. A salesman came into his shop one day and told him he was going on a business trip to Rome and needed a haircut. While he was cutting the salesman’s hair, the barber asked, “What airline will you be taking and what hotel will you be staying at?”  When the salesman told him the barber criticized the airline for being undependable and the hotel for having horrible service.  “You’d be better off to stay at home,” he advised.  “But I expect to close a really big business deal and then I’m going to see the Pope.”  The barber continued, “Don’t count on seeing the Pope. He only sees important people.”  Several weeks later the salesman returned and stopped by the barber shop. “How was your trip?” asked the barber.  “It was wonderful,” the salesman said. “The airline was great, the hotel was excellent.”  “Did you see the Pope? What happened?”  The salesman said, “Oh yes! I even bent down and kissed his ring.” “No kidding. What did he say?” asked the barber?  “Well, he placed his hand on my head and said to me, “My son, where did you ever get such a lousy haircut?”

More power to someone who refuses to be discouraged from attempting something new and exciting. Faith is a couple of things, I think: It’s believing in the future. Faith is also being willing to try something as if failure is impossible. So, I ask you this question: What would you attempt to do, if you knew you could not fail?

Some may think that Thomas, in today’s gospel, was not grounded in faith, but I always thought that Thomas got a bad rap: If I were to say the names of disciples and ask you to write down the first word that comes to mind, it is unlikely you would come up with the same words. For example, if I were to mention the name of Matthew, many of you would write down the words “tax collector” 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. You might say that he was stubborn and fearful at times. If I were to mention the names of James and John, some of you might write down the phrase "Sons of Thunder," but probably not all of you. But when I mention the name Thomas, there is little question about the word you would write down. It would be the word ‘doubt.’ Indeed, so closely have we associated Thomas with this word, that we have developed a phrase for someone who is always skeptical: “Doubting Thomas.”

You may be interested to know that in the first three gospels we are told absolutely nothing about Thomas beyond his name as a disciple. It is in John’s Gospel that he emerges as a distinct personality, and it is in John, the 11^th chapter, when he tells the other disciples that they should all go to Jerusalem with Jesus. This was a gutsy thing to say because, when Jesus turned his face toward Jerusalem, the disciples thought that it would be certain death for him. Surprising that Thomas said: “Then let us go so that we may die with him.” Not the statement of a doubter or someone faint of heart. Yet we don’t remember him for that statement.

We may also fail to see that in the story today of Thomas’ doubt we have a significant statement in the gospels where the divinity of Christ is directly and unequivocally stated. When Thomas realizes that he is indeed in the presence of his Jesus, we hear his confession, “My Lord, and my God.” Not teacher. Not master. Not even Messiah. But God! It is one place where Jesus is called God without qualification of any kind. It is uttered with conviction as if Thomas is simply recognizing a fact. You are my Lord and my God! These are certainly not the words we associate with a doubter.

It is true that, after the crucifixion, Thomas has somehow separated himself from the other disciples and therefore, in his solitude, missed the first resurrection appearance. Perhaps John is suggesting to us that Christ appears most often within the community of believers that we now call the church, and when we separate ourselves from the church we take a chance of missing his presence. I think we all have our personal sense of who God is in us. And this may be our alone-with-God kind of encounter. But we also know that we need each other. We need our church community and other communities that support us. And we see God in those communities.

I have been called to be rector of the Cursillo women’s weekend that starts next Thursday. While I have been preparing for this weekend with my team, for most of a year, I have also been immersed in the worry and fear about my husband and his precarious health. I thought at one point that, had I known a year ago that he would be having these serious health issues, I would never have agreed to be rector. And yet, it is my team, as well as this church, who have supported me and loved me and given me the sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit. God always knows best, I believe, when it is not for us to know the future. That is part of what faith is.

So, what else can we learn from Thomas’s encounters with Jesus?

Jesus did not blame him for doubting. Jesus was willing to offer proof of his presence to Thomas without blaming Thomas for his apparent lack of faith. In fact, Jesus was not someone who judged and blamed others. If we are to follow his teachings and the example of his life, we too must resist the temptation to be judges of others.

I have said before in sermons that I have struggled with judging others and, at the same time, trying to make myself acceptable so that I won’t be judged. When I have been engaged in that kind of thinking, I can’t be of any service to anyone, and service to others is what Jesus called us for. Blame can also come from trying to follow a list of rules and falling short. If our religion only consists of following rules, we will begin to focus only on outward appearance rather than inward reality. I have learned, as I have become old, that outward appearance isn’t very important, my own or others’. That’s kind of a relief, actually.

We also learn from Thomas’s encounter with Jesus that Jesus said we are blessed if we do not see him and yet believe. Unlike Thomas, we too have not seen and yet believe. Thomas needed proof. Does that make him less faithful than we are? I don’t think so. Try to picture yourself as one of the disciples at the time of the Crucifixion without the perspective of Easter. Imagine how frightened and desolate they felt. Consider the group of disciples Jesus first appeared to after the Resurrection. They saw Jesus. If they had not witnessed the resurrected Jesus for themselves and had been told this apparently wild story that he had appeared after he had been killed, would they have believed it? Would you have believed it? Or would we have doubted as Thomas did?

Here is what gives us an advantage over Thomas and the other disciples: You and I do have the perspective of the Resurrection from which followed two thousand years of Christianity. Thomas and the others had no idea what Jesus’ resurrection would become.

We also learn from Thomas that when we doubt, we must pray to move beyond doubt to faith.
We all have moments when God is not real for us. I call these “desert times.” If I am intentional with prayer and spiritual discipline, I will inevitably discover what God has been trying to teach me during these dry periods.
When I was young, I would feel scared when someone expressed a lack of faith or doubt about God to me. I would think, “Maybe he’s right or maybe she’s knows something I don’t know.” Because I have come through my own dark night of the soul, as I imagine some of you have, I have faith that is still being clarified and distilled. For that, I am more grateful than for anything else in my life. Faith doesn’t come easily, as least it hasn’t been easy for me. I think faith comes from walking through struggles to find the redemption on the other side. I haven’t arrived yet! But I am still struggling, and, the good news is: I am farther down the path toward God than I was yesterday, or a year ago, or fifty years ago.

From the Acts reading today: “with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and grace was upon them all.” I would add to that Acts reading: Including Thomas. Grace was also upon Thomas. The apostles all had their moment of seeing the resurrected Jesus, and it energized them. It changed them from their dark night as fearful, faithless people to people redeemed and convicted by the Holy Spirit. This was the beginning of our church. From these humble beginnings, Christianity grew to be the largest religious body in the world. How amazing that is!

Thomas, with his doubts, is like us – human. May we also be blessed enough to have his faith. So, what would you attempt to do, if you knew you could not fail?
Amen.

Easter Sermon 2012

Easter Sermon (4/8/12) John A. Baldwin

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

A Western visitor to Communist China in the early 1970's was witness to an astonishing moment. During a meal in someone's home, a person lifted a glass of wine & said in a low voice, "We remember". The visitor knew instantly that what was being remembered was something which couldn't be spoken about openly, but which was still alive & vibrant underground, namely, that on the night before he died, our Lord Jesus Christ lifted a glass of wine & said "This is my blood, which is poured out for many."

When there was a thaw in the Chinese government's ban on religious life some years later, it was revealed that, despite severe repression, the Christian faith had continued quietly in house churches. Today it is estimated that there are well over 40 million Christians in China, perhaps even as many as 130 million. What kept the Christian faith alive in very dangerous times was "memory" of the saving events in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without that "memory" Christianity in China might well have perished.

Yet, thus it has always been. As Christians, down through the centuries, we are people who remember. Every time we gather together to worship, we make time to recall the life of Jesus, his wisdom & insight into who & what we are, his sacrificial love & compassion, his call to discipleship, and his invitation to lead lives connected to & nourished by God.

On Easter morning we relive the joy, wonder, and awe of the women & Apostles as they hear the incredible news that their beloved teacher & friend, has passed through the ravenous jaws of death, and has emerged triumphant on the other side of tragedy. Without our annual remembrance on Easter morning, our weekly remembrance in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, and our daily remembrance in prayer, reflection & study, our faith grows dim and flabby, and sadly, for some, dies altogether.

Amidst the stress & challenges of our daily grind of work, school, or household routine it is all too easy for our memories to fade...for us to lose sight of the power of the Gospel's “Good News”, of a loving, merciful God; of forgiveness & redemption; of healing & wholeness; of the joy & power of life in Christ; and of the promise of everlasting life.... news that seems “too good to be true” at times, yet is.

The early disciples, and the Israelites before them, recognized how vital it was that the meaningful encounters with God they'd experienced be remembered

and passed on to generations yet unborn. The Seder meal, vital to the life of a faithful Jew, is centered on remembering the Exodus from Egypt. The Holy Eucharist, vital to the life of a faithful Christian, is centered on remembering the Last Supper of Jesus had with his Apostles, and his exhortation to continue celebrating this meal in remembrance of Him. We must...we have to...remember these events in the drama of salvation, lest we lose touch with the God who created us, and who redeemed us in Jesus Christ.

Memories are precious to us. When asked what we would try to save if our house were on fire, many would answer “our photographs', which call to mind, times in our lives we don't want to forget. Being remembered on our birthdays & anniversaries is very important to most of us, because it says we matter and are loved. Losing our memories to Alzheimers or Dementia is sometimes more tragic than death itself. Memories can sustain us through times that are tough and troubling. They can remind us of blessings, and give us hope for blessings still to come. Even painful memories are important because they serve as reminders of times we've fallen short of the grace of God....of times when we've yearned for something more and better.

Yet, memory is something we take far too much for granted. In reality, we're often not really very good at it. Events capture our attention briefly, but quickly fade in a few days, weeks, or months. Who really remembers where the last riveting news story took place once the media has moved on to something new?

Having been on TV myself several times over the past 3 weeks, and even on the front page of the Virginian Pilot, I am realistic enough to know that my “15 minutes of fame” will soon fade away, and be forgotten. The public has a very short-term memory, and that can be kind of scary.

Without an ongoing attempt to know and remember the living Christ in prayer and scripture, we are vulnerable on the one hand to skeptics who water down faith to nothing more than simple moral rules of conduct, and on the other hand to fanatics who misrepresent Jesus in a very narrow way for those too lazy to encounter Jesus ourselves.

Memory for Christians is essential to our faith. The memory of our sins & short-comings reminds us of our constant need for forgiveness. The memory of the life, death & resurrection of Jesus Christ reminds us of the refreshing good news of God's love and grace.

So on this Sunday morning, let us remember. Let us allow the joy of Easter to pour over us, reliving the wonder of that holy moment at the Garden tomb and the events which followed; recalling moments of joy and blessing we have experienced in our lives; and rejoicing in the promise of new life and hope in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

Good Friday is Aw(e)ful!

The Rev. J.W. Messer
Good Friday 2012

Good Friday is AW(E)FUL!

How we define a moment is important.  And Good Friday is a defining moment.

Good Friday is awful!
Today the definition of awful means: dreadful, terrible, bad.
Yet generations ago awful meant: awe filled, or full of awe.
Full of awe takes on a whole different meaning. Awe is wonder, admiration, or inspiring.

Good Friday is awful and Good Friday is full of awe.

These two definitions seem opposite on the day of Jesus’ death, the day we call Good Friday. For the disciples, Good Friday was anything but good. Their friend, leader, and savior was dead.  They thought their purpose was gone. Everything they believed had not fulfilled the way they thought it would. Jesus was dead and they had problems burying his body. A friend had betrayed a friend.  Good Friday was awful.

Yet today the church lifts this day up. While it is a solemn day, it nevertheless is a day that is full of awe. Today is a day we wrestle with something that may seem both awful and filled with awe.

Two thousand years ago on a Friday, it was awful, for a man suffered true abandonment and betrayal. Good Friday refers to the last day of a man named Jesus from Nazareth. On that day he died a horrible and horrifying death, broken and betrayed.

Jesus found himself in the place where those he believed in no longer believed in him -- when those he had turned to and helped turned from him or were unable to help him.

It’s not a place anyone wants to be.  It was awful.

It was a time when Judas was faced with his darkest moment --when the world seemed to be closing in on him. The moment what he thought to be right turned out to be wrong, and what he thought he would never betray, he did betray. It is the darkest moment for any person or any one of any faith.

Yet Judas did just that.  Judas betrayed him by not believing in him and giving into his awful fear.   It was an awful act.

I cannot imagine what it was like to know those around you loved you, but would do nothing to help you, one of your closest friends would betray you, and those you held and had been cheering your name were now shouting for your death. And when politics and letters of the law were something you fought against and were now being used to condemn you.

No one ever expects to be in this awful position.

And yet on Good Friday Jesus found himself in this awful position. The last few hours of Jesus life he hung on a cross, which was a painful death, and in that time he could only look down on those he loved but were unable to help them. Those he loved looked back up at him, helpless to assist the man that had been their friend, their leader, and for one, her son. The world he was called to save, to lift up, had put him on trial and claimed an innocent man was guilty.  On Good Friday we look at Jesus’ death, and wonder, if we were there, what would we have done? And for that matter, in our lives today we may ask ourselves the same question.

It’s awful. Good Friday is awful….. But Good Friday is also full of awe.

Good Friday is a time we can sit in the moment that the disciples sat, when we feel abandoned, when we don’t know what the future holds. Where we look around us and all our laid plans have fallen around us.  Where we shout at God: “WHY US?” “Where are you in all of this?” or “My God, My God why have you forsaken me”

We know God is full of awe. He did not abandon Christ on the cross, and God does not abandon us, even when it’s hard to sense Him.

The thing is, we humans can be awful and we can be full of awe too. Look at the people in the Gospel reading. The crowds were full of awe and became awful. Then they shouted awful things as Christ died, yet when he breathed his last, they found themselves filled with awe. Look at Judas. He was full of awe of Jesus and then fell into an awful place when he doubted himself and all that he had believed in. Look at today. Casually scanning any newspaper headlines on any day will confirm this.  We can be awful towards each other, or we can be full of awe of live.

What the people did to Jesus was awful.  However, the results were full of awe.

God is with us. Jesus has lived like us among us and knows what it is like. God loves us so much that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. Not pain nor joy.  Not life nor death.

Today, this service and lectionary is about living in the moments that are awful in our lives --recognizing them for what they are and knowing that we are not alone. Just as those people two thousand years ago, as we read in the Gospel, we don’t know what tomorrow will hold. All we know is… Good Friday is awful but it is full of awe.

+In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!+

Good Friday

Good Friday (from the senses pious,holy of the word "good"): On this day Christians commemorate the passion, or suffering, and death on the cross of Jesus Christ.

This Taize song “Stay with me” is a meditative piece remembering Christ wrestling with the devil in Gethsemane while his disciples falling asleep. http://youtu.be/zkivkORaeJA

On this day many Christians spend the day in fasting, prayer, meditation and repentance. It is based on the canonicals gospel’s account of the crucifixion of Jesus, estimated to be on Friday in 33AD. The biblical accounts can be found in Matthew 27:27-28:8; Mark 15:16-16:19; Luke 23:26-24:35; and John 19:16-20:30.

Maundy Thursday

Blessings this Maundy Thursday. Today is the day we remember that we are called to be servants. Watch a youtube video: The Servant Song" http://youtu.be/k-Pk2NHKg_o

The English word Maundy in that name for the day is derived through Middle English and Old French mandé, from the ...Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John 13:34 by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet. The phrase is used as the antiphon sung during the "Mandatum" ceremony of the washing of the feet, which may be held during Mass or at another time as a separate event, during which a priest (or at Emmanuel someone we love) ceremonially washes the feet of others.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday 2012

The Rev. Marguerite Alley

Frenzy…………..screaming, shouting…children running around, mothers scolding them, fathers chatting while trying to keep an eye on the family…….bumping for better line of sight…..palm waving, singing favorite temple songs…….all to get a glimpse of the one they believed would end their suffering at the hands of Rome.

The only one not effected by the frenzied and festive mood? The donkey.

As a young person…Palm Sunday felt like a dress rehearsal for Easter. Special music, new clothes…a party atmosphere.


As you no doubt know...things take a turn for the worse.  The change is almost unbearable. If you allow yourself, you can feel the anguish and the tragedy. There are few situations in our lives that could ever reflect the stark juxtaposition of the joy and anguish that occur during that 24 hour period. Maybe you could create a scenario to capture it. Like…witnessing the birth of your child and knowing it will mean the death of your spouse in the same day.

Today is the day when we confront the dark side of humanity as we get caught up in the mood, follow the crowd and find ourselves shouting “Crucify him”! along with the rest of the crowd. I would like to think that I could think for myself and not get sucked into mass hysteria. But who am I kidding? I suspect, knowing myself, that just like I did in Jr. high, and high school and last week, I would have followed the crowd and jeered at, looked down on, and scoffed at one whose message was so threatening to all I had known and believed before. It is sad, but true.

In a playful moment last week, the staff here spent some time considering what we should name our “dark passenger”. By the time we were done, we were introduced to Izzy, Camilla, Regina, Bubba, Jethro, Wanda and Chrissy. Each in someway, represents the part of ourselves we have to keep in check. While it was, as I said, a playful moment, it is also a necessary one. Being aware of our frailty, allows us to be more honest and authentic and to admit that we are in fact broken; each in a different way, and in need of the healing that is offered to us by our relationship with Jesus.

So..we have two very distinct moods today. They are incongruous, asymmetric and violently opposed to each other. If you could anthropomorphize, or ascribe human qualities to them for a second…they are Atilla the Hun and Mother Theresa. Adolf Hitler and Clara Barton. Napolean and Ghandi. They are joy and hatred. But in the end they are nothing but Love and Fear.

Most of us are drawn to love….like moths to light. We want to be close to it, to feel its warmth. Most of us are also drawn to fear…like when we rubber neck at an accident sight or choose to go to a horror movie. Our curiosity drives our behavior. We need to see what happened. To understand. Yet…we don’t stick around long enough to see the body dragged from the car. We get a taste of tragedy..and that is all we want.

This creates, if you will pardon the educationeese….”cognitive dissonance” for us. How can we be drawn to both? How can both even exist at the same time? So, because we are gifted with the ability to think, we try to solve the problem. The way we do this is to convince ourselves that one will cancel out the other. So we remove the ugliness of the second part of the story and save it for later. We hear it…but we don’t take it in. We take the palm fronds, but not crown of thorns.  For centuries the church has struggled with this, but we have found the solution. When we leave church on Palm Sunday….we don’t come back until Easter! It is the perfect solution….like closing your eyes in a horror movie. We use our own fast forward button to just skip ahead to when all the suffering and ugliness is over and Jesus is at home with God and being waited upon by all the angels. Sometimes, we even joke with ourselves and say “leave it to the church mice” the “worship junkies”…..those more spiritual than we are……leave it to them to sit with Jesus through the long night, leave to them to sit outside the tomb.

Well, friends…..I am going to be very direct with you this morning, and I apologize in advance if I offend anyone.  If you choose not to participate in Holy week liturgies you are missing the point of these liturgical observances. The point is not just another service, just another sermon, just another chance for an offering. The point is that, if you want to experience Easter for YOURSELF….(Jesus already has, you know!) then you must have your own night of betrayal and loneliness. You must have your own day of darkness. We are experiential beings. We cannot possibly understand the true meaning of this story if we don’t first allow ourselves to fully enter the landscape and participate. I can tell you that at the end of Maundy Thursday when the tabernacle is empty, the altar bare, and the crosses are draped in black, there is no escaping the feeling of absolute emptiness, loss and anguish. On Good Friday as we metaphorically wait and hope that Jesus will be delivered from the cross, there is no avoiding a personal inventory of the ways in which I have personally fallen short of the glory of God. On Saturday evening, when the first light enters the church and we hear the salvation story, baptize new members and celebrate again, but for the first time, the common meal that Jesus asks us to share, there is no way you can not feel filled with light and buoyancy and joy.

In each of our lives there have been and will be opportunities for us to let go of the things that hold us back, the things that keep us bound up in fear. By letting go of those things we can return to our true selves: we are children of a living God, children of a loving God. Union with God is our true home. To return we will have to choose between acting in love or out of fear. I challenge you this year to consider that choice. Or will you follow the crowd? Will you follow Jesus?

5 Lent

March 25, 2012  John Baldwin

I begin my sermon today with a short story by William Aitken which comes to mind when I hear the request of some Greeks to Philip in our Gospel reading this morning, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

A pastor in Kansas shared his concerns with the church custodian about something strange that was happening at noon each day. A shabby elderly man had been entering the church, staying a few minutes and then leaving. What was he up to ? Some church members had become concerned and had suggested locking the church during the week– expensive furnishings and all, you know. The custodian was asked to watch out for the man. and question him about his activities.

For several days the caretaker watched. As regular as clockwork the man came & went. Nothing was missing from the sanctuary. Nothing was harmed. Finally at the end of the week, the caretaker accosted the man. “Look here, friend, what are you up to going into our church every day?” “I go to pray”, the old man replied quietly.

“Come on now”, the caretaker said sternly. “you don't stay long enough to pray. You just go up to the altar and then leave. I've been watching you.” “That's true”, he replied. “I don't pray very long. I don't know any of those long, fancy prayers. I just come up and say, “Jesus, it's Jim.” I wait a moment and then go away. It's just a little prayer, but I'm pretty sure he hears me.”

Some time later, Jim was injured in an accident & admitted to the city's charity hospital. He was placed in a ward with several other destitute men. This ward was normally a tough assignment for the hospital nurses. The men were generally cross and miserable, sometimes even abusive. As the days passed, however, the staff began to notice a change in the attitude of the patients. Anger subsided. Complaints turned into compliments. One morning as laughter was heard in the ward, a nurse came in to find out what was going on. “What's happened to all of you? Where has your usual grumbling gone?”

One man said, “It's Old Jim, he's always so happy.” Another joined in, “I know Jim's in pain, but he's happy all the time. He makes me ashamed to fuss and complain.” The nurse crossed the long, crowded ward to Jim's bedside, and with a questioning look and a half- smile she asked, “What is it that makes you so joyful?”

Jim smiled and said, “I'm happy because of my visitor.” “Visitor?” the nurse asked in puzzlement. “You have no family. You've never had a visitor.”

“Oh yes I have” Jim said. “I have a visitor every day.” His eyes brightening, Jim continued. “Every day about noon, he comes and stands at the foot of my bed and says, “Jim, It's Jesus.”

Have you seen Jesus, my Lord, He's here in plain view. Take a look, open your eyes, he'll show it to you.”

Another man, another place...writing from prison to a small Christian community in a port city on the Aegean Sea, St. Paul had this to say, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.” (Philippians 3:8)

Interesting perspectives aren't they? The first a poor man who is constant in faith, day after day, “Jesus, it's Jim” “Jim, it's Jesus”...simple, direct, unpretentious. The other, a more sophisticated and articulate theologian from another era, who says simply, “knowing Jesus is the only thing that's worth anything.” What joins the two across the centuries is their close personal friendship with the Lord.

When Jesus chose his 12 apostles, he invited them into friendship. The Gospel of John in particular, stresses the importance of the friendship between Jesus and his disciples. In chapters 13-17, Jesus retreats to the upper room for the Last Supper with his inner circle. Here he shares his inner hopes and dreams, and his love for his disciples. In chapter 15:15 Jesus says to them: “I call you friends.” His relationship with Peter, James, John and the rest is deep and very important to Jesus. All of the marks of friendship are present: Shared intimacy; forgiveness and the acceptance of foibles; presence at critical times; laughter and celebration.

When Jesus was crucified, his disciples were devastated, not simply because an inspirational teacher was being taken from them, but because he was THEIR FRIEND.

I'd like to share with you a short reflection describing 3 different levels of friendship. Level one is that of acquaintance. This is when you know another person because of proximity. They could be a neighbor with whom you occasionally chat when you're walking the dog; someone who sits in a pew near you on Sunday morning; or someone you may chat with at the coffee machine, but who, should they move away, you are not likely to maintain any contact with. We may have many acquaintances. They are relationships of convenience, courtesy & general politeness. The conversation usually stays on safe topics with low emotional content. They may be very pleasurable, but they're not very deep.

Level two is that of companionship. Companions share a goal, a task, a hobby or a need and consciously schedule time together to pursue them. While they may never get very deeply into a sharing of vulnerabilities or emotional struggles, companions enjoy one another's company and develop a sense of trust in one another.

Level 3 is that of established friendship where the real you is known by the other person, and where you feel free to tell one another just about anything. This knowing and being known is a result of having spent time together and talking at a deep level because you respect and trust that person. Sadly, this kind of friendship, though fairly common amongst women, is rarer with men because it requires a large investment of time and attention, trust and self-disclosure.....qualities that are alien to the competitiveness that characterizes many male relationships. In established friendships, our normal human flaws become evident, but they do not hinder relationships.

The experience of the disciples, of Paul, and of “Old Jim” is that of a level three relationship with Jesus. As what level would you rate your friendship with the Lord? - acquaintance, companion, or established friend? Spiritual growth in the Christian faith is all about moving towards a level 3 friendship with the Lord, where we know and feel the deep and abiding love of God; where we can confess our weakness and shortcomings without shame or fear; where we can share our innermost aspirations, longings and desires and feel understood.

Like any friendship, a relationship with Jesus requires devoting time and energy to being in his presence through prayer, scripture reading, worship and openness to the Holy Spirit. If we are to move beyond acquaintance to companionship, and perhaps eventually to an established friendship with Jesus, we need to believe and trust that it is deeply worth our devotion and energy, and commit time to cultivating it day by day.