Sermons:
-
Peace Be to You,
John 20:19-31,
by Rev. Dr. Cynthia Huling Hummel
(see
below)
- From the 12
Apostles Sermon Series:
Thomas, the Doubter, or the Brave?
John 20:19-31, by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Proof of Life John 20:19-31, Rev.
Karen Goltz
Dealing with Doubt John 20:19-29,
by
Dr. David Rogne
Where Were You on Good Friday?
John 20:19-31,
by Rev. Randy L Quinn
No interview John 20:19-31, by Thomas Hall
What a Fellowship! Acts 4:32-35, by Rev. Thomas
Hall, 1 John 1-2:1
Doubting or
Courageous Thomas? John 20:19-31. by Susan Russel
Believing
is Seeing, John 20:19-31, by HW in HI
Taking Doubts to Christ, John 20:19-31, by annonymous
______________________________________________________
Peace Be to You
based on John 20:19-31
by Rev. Dr. Cynthia Huling Hummel
One of the
things that surprised me when I moved to a small town in upstate New York, was
how many people I’ve met who don’t lock their doors. It is not at all unusual
for someone to say to me, “Well, Pastor if we’re not home when you get
there, just go on in and sit down. There’s some cold pop in the frig. So help
yourself. And please help yourself to the cookies on the kitchen counter, too.”
I remember
going over to a church member’s house not so long ago. She told me that she
may or may not be home, but that the door would be open. I had something that I
didn’t want to leave outside in the rain and so I tried the door and sure enough
it was unlocked. Not only did I walk in the back door, but her “watchdog”
nearly licked me to death. Even thinking about that unlocked door gives me the
willies. Imagine, I just walked into that house.
I’m just not
used to unlocked doors. It’s probably because I’m from NJ: the “locked door
state”. When I lived there, we had not one, not two, but three locks on most of
the doors to our house. There was the regular lock that was part of the
doorknob. But we also installed a dead bolt in case someone jimmied the first
lock. And we also installed a chain, so you could open the door a little, but
still be safe. But that wasn’t all. We also had a peep hole too, so that we
wouldn’t have to unlock the door to see who was there. But there’s more! We
also installed one of those motion lights that come on if anyone approaches the
door. We decided, if we were going to be robbed that we weren’t going to make
it easy for the intruder! We’d make them work for it..
To this day,
I have a nightly door locking ritual. I usually check the doors more than
once, because I can’t remember if Iocked them or not. You know how that is.
You’re lying in bed thinking, “Did I or didn’t I?” And finally you just get up
to check to see if the door is locked, because you cant fall asleep worrying
about it. Now some people might think I’m paranoid- who knows, maybe I am.
But not without cause. I’ve been robbed. So thank goodness for locks. Yes,
locked doors give us a great sense of security.
The reading
that we’ve just heard from John’s gospel, the lectionary reading for the day is
about locked doors and locked hearts. It’s about doubt and it’s about faith.
Let’s spend some time together discovering what the text has to say to us about
living our lives in doubt and in faithfulness. John tells us that it was
evening on “that day- the first day of the week”. In other words it was Easter
night. It had been a long and difficult weekend of pain and loss. Jesus had
been crucified and buried on Friday. That morning, Mary had discovered the tomb
empty and she ran to tell Peter and the others and described how she had seen
Jesus. Jesus had even called out her name. It was all too strange and too
wonderful and so difficult to even begin to comprehend.
But one thing
the disciples knew for certain was their fear. They has seen what had happened
to Jesus and were terrified of what might happen to them and so they hid. They
locked themselves away because they were afraid of what the Jewish authorities
might do. Yes, the doors were locked and the disciples were locked in fear.
And it’s precisely then, that Jesus comes to them. He knows that they are
terrified and he comes through the locked doors to unlock their fear and their
faith. And so one of the first questions that comes to us is: What is it that
you and I are fearful of? Where in our lives are we feeling that we are locked
up or locked out? Maybe we’re locked into a bad relationship or locked into a
dead end job. Or perhaps you are deadlocked in an addiction. And perhaps we’ve
locked someone out of our lives who wants to help us. Where is it that we need
Jesus to enter and to bring us peace? Jesus has the power to unlock our fears!
We need only ask! [continue]
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