Sunday, April 19, 2020

Living Stones

This is week one of a six week series in which the readings link us to the same emotions and questions that the early church had in the time after Jesus’ resurrection. The foundational text for the series is I Peter 2: 4-6: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”  Based on the theme of Become Living Stones and the journey that entails for each of us, this worship series also includes a symbolic ritual using a stone/stones, providing a tangible reminder that we are called to be the church in the world and to be living stones built into a spiritual house. You are invited, now, to find a stone that you can hold, to be included as part of your worship. Come to Christ, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Welcome & Invitation Come to Christ, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight. Like living stones, let us be built into a spiritual house; a holy priesthood. Doubt is natural part of faith. It helps us to deepen our relationship with God and encourages us to ask “hard” questions. What can weigh us down and become a barrier is the fear that we carry. We often become immobilized by our fear and are unable to perceive Christ’s movement in our life.

*While holding your stone, think about those times in your life you have let fear be your guide.*

Call To Worship Let us rejoice! The risen Christ is among us and greets us with the message of Peace! Like the disciples, we rejoice at the good news! Like the disciples, we also have our doubts. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Open our hearts, O God, so that we too may have faith and not feel weighed down by our doubt! The risen Christ invites us to receive the Holy Spirit and to share the Good News. Let us be filled with the spirit and embrace the peace of Christ.

Call to Confession We confess together as a community of faith because we acknowledge the reality of sin in the church, the world, and our personal lives, and so we ask God for forgiveness and help in amending our lives. And the proof of God’s amazing love is this: while we were sinners Christ died for us. Because we have faith in him, we dare to approach God with confidence, assured of a forgiveness already given through Christ.

Prayer of Confession You have shown yourself to us, O God, by Word and Spirit, with signs and wonders, in flesh and blood, yet we still struggle to live and believe the good news of Jesus Christ. Have mercy on us; forgive us. Enter into our lives and cast out our fear so that we may come to trust in you and have life in Jesus’ name. Amen. *Find a place and lay down your stone, your fears, into God’s keeping now.* Assurance of Pardon Friends, hear the good news! Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old life has gone; a new life has begun. Know that we are forgiven and be at peace. Amen.

Encountering God's Word

Prayer for Illumination God of all who doubt and believe, by the gift of your Spirit enable us to hear with our ears, to see with our eyes, and to touch with our hands your Word of life - Jesus Christ - our Lord and our God. Amen.

Scripture John 20:19-31 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

"Show me" is a sermon by the Rev. Dr. David Bailey of Central Presbyterian Church in Anderson, SC. Dr. Bailey's message focuses on grace and the various ways people come to faith in Christ. "What John does insist on is that the possibility for faith is not limited to that circle of original disciples nor to their experiences of Christ.” Text Copy of Sermon "Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, so I send you" is a sermon by Rev. Bryony Taylor from St. Aidan's Church in Leeds, England. The link above provides connection to Rev. Taylor's blog and the text of the sermon in which Rev. Taylor links the breath of Jesus onto the disciples with the breath of God breathed into humanity at creation and into us as Christ's Spirit. ‌

Prayers of the People God of mercy, we are afraid. We are afraid for our loved ones, for our neighbors and our communities, our nation and all nations, for ourselves. Help us to honor the feeling of fear without becoming paralyzed by it, without becoming hardened, without turning inward because of it. In life and in death we belong to you, made certain by Jesus’ resurrection, so fresh in our minds. Send your Spirit to fill us with courage that is bigger than fear, that we might be holders and carriers and sharers of hope in you. God of tenderness, we pray your presence with healthcare workers who have seen and who have experienced painful and haunting things in the midst of their struggles to be restorers of health. Comfort them in their grief as you comfort all who have been touched by death, which comes in many forms. Give us the strength to be those upon whom they can lean, to be those who can listen. God of green things, around us the world still shows signs of life as it has done spring after spring for millennia. Open our eyes that we might receive the miracle of small, new leaves, the miracle of the flight of birds and butterflies, the miracle of kindnesses in small gestures. May we see the evidences of goodness and, even more so, may we be the evidence of goodness, we pray. We ask all of these things through Christ, who taught us to pray. The Lord's Prayer

Charge and Benediction The world is full of Doubting Thomases. Know that this is a weighty burden they carry. Your call is to help share the load, not because you have all the answers, but because you are willing to struggle with them over the questions. Go in confidence that you are loved by God, covered by the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The Prayer of Confession and Prayer for Illumination are Reprinted by permission of Westminster John Knox Press from Feasting on the Word: Liturgies for Year A, Volume 1. Copyright 2013.