touch and taste, see and believe

We gathered in a house with the doors fearfully locked. A knock may sound, but there is silence. Jesus appears among us, but we do not recognize him until he shows us his wounds, evidence of his death. He greets us “Peace be with you” - shalom aleichem, as-salaam alaikum. 

He breathes on us! saying “receive holy breath” - Holy Spirit - and empowers us as with the keys of the kingdom, keys to unlock others from fear and sin. “Any you forgive, are forgiven; any you do not - their sins are retained.” 

And then we try to bring Thomas the Twin into the circle though he is not here with us that first hard day’s night. 

A week later we are gathered again when Jesus again appears among us. Thomas is with us this time. He had demanded to see and touch, to have the physical connection, the physical experience, that would allay all doubt. He could testify if he had that direct contact. 

Now he has the opportunity. See me, touch me. The offer was enough, and more than enough: his confession surpassed all others to this date. 

Not only teacher, rabbi, messiah; now Lord, κυριος, kurios, and θεος, theos, God. 

χριστος  κυριος, Christ is Lord. That could get you killed, in those days. To deny Caesar the highest authority: there was danger there, and redemption. 

Have we seen Jesus our Lord? Have we touched and tasted him, in the real presence at the Table? Have we touched him, embraced him, as John the Evangelist did, in the Peace? Have we touched and been touched by him, in the laying on of hands for healing - or ordination? 

Have we confessed, as Thomas did, astonished at Christ's presence? Are we among those who have not seen and yet come to belief?

That peace that Jesus gives, we give to others. We receive Jesus under the cover of bread and wine, and we receive him in the greeting of a stranger. 

Remember Emmaus, the Emmaus road, and the stranger, who greeted travelers who knew him only in the breaking of the bread: he was no ghost, no walking corpse, not the ‘grateful dead’ of Egyptian myth, but a living and powerful presence. 

We all here as we gather at the Table, as the disciples gathered in that room in the house with the locked doors, may like them be fearful, uncertain of our security. And find like them that the security is from the intruder already in their midst, the divine intruder who is also truly human.

See my hands, touch my side. Embrace my people, know them or not. Find solace, comfort, and not only those: 

Our Lord and Our God: Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us. Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal. Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name.

Risen Lord, be known to us

in the breaking of the Bread. 

And in the touch and taste

our fragile bodies convey your grace.

 These fragile bodies of touch and taste… [https://cockburnproject.net/songs&music/liadt.html]

messages

While you were out 
The messiah rose from the dead 
And he wants to talk to you 
And he has a message for you 
To take 
Far and far away 
Into every human heart 
You can reach

A few years ago I met a man in San Francisco who wore clerical garb of unusual hues: I was told he was a bishop of the Mar Thoma church from Kerala south India 🇮🇳 founded by the same Thomas who was known for his doubts — and his certainty. His explosive confession “my Lord and my God” was an early bombshell set off in the playground of first century religion. There was no room for idle speculation. You couldn’t hide anymore. You didn’t need proof. He was real. Loving you; showing you the proof you no longer needed. And so, Thomas, you knelt to the truth.

In recent weeks I have been thinking about the toll of war and civil strife. With others I have listened to the Rev. Dr. Gary Mason of Rethinking Conflict, the peace-making consultancy built around personal experiences in Northern Ireland.

And less directly, several lectures, videos, and even songs, about the separation of East and West, especially in Germany, after the second world war, the building of the Berlin Wall and its eventual and hand-hastened collapse. Can the forces of violence be overcome by hope? 

The Wind of Change, a song by the Skorpions performed on Potsdamer Platz in central Berlin a year and a week after the fall of the Berlin Wall, sung to that hope. [https://youtu.be/XjFsZj1aHow]

The arc of justice bends very slowly but still we hope if we all lean on it and hang on we can together feel it shift. 

https://www.rethinkingconflict.com/

https://www.cartercenter.org/peace/democracy/index.html

https://arizonadrn.org/

trust

TRUST

What can you trust? Who can you trust?

In uncertain times, which we are certainly in now, questions come up, and trust is at stake. Who can you trust? What can you trust? The editor of one of my favorite regional magazines asked recently, what are you reading? And he said he had switched from national newsfeeds and blogs to more local, on-the-ground sources of information. I am not advocating this particular strategy: indeed, I find that international sources are equally important for getting a balanced view of the world. It does raise the question of trust. As do recent panicky accounts of stock markets and trade wars. Should I buy? Should we sell? Should I sit tight? What is going on?

What is going on - in a deeper sense - not simply what is happening now, in this moment, with its momentary passions and worries, is something we as Christian believers must consider.

As must be our response, to uncertain conditions, turbulent times, faithless politicians, and the anxiety bred by a lack of trust.

Robert Bellah, a sociologist, and, by the way, member of an Episcopal church in Berkeley, said that, “Our greatest contribution to the world is, by God’s grace, to try to be who, as Christians, we are.” And he asked Americans, in a survey research project conducted with colleagues, “How do you determine what is good, how do you determine what is right, in your daily life?”

The results of that qualitative research project are reported in the book “Habits of the Heart.”

The questions of the immediate moment, what should I do now, what should I do today, what will alleviate my anxiety - or that of my fellows, where will I go to find trust, and trustworthy companions? These questions do lead us into deeper inquiry: on what is trust to be founded? What is the basis, the foundation, on which trust, and faithfulness, can be solidly built: I would submit to you that the old hymns may be right: On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. [On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, Song by The Graham Family Band ‧ 2014] 

Or, if you do not have the Lord to guide you…

Or, My hope is built on nothing less/Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness (Edward Mote (1797-1874)

In other words, we enjoy a certainty beyond the fluctuations of the stock market or the flutterings of our hearts, or the passions of the moment, in the sure and certain knowledge of salvation, salvation not just of ourselves but of all people, all creatures, all creation. Some of us, notably humans, need it more than others. I have less sense that rocks and stars need saving from themselves. We certainly do, at times. 

I think of the solid and faithful work of Samaritans and others, including border police on both sides of the wall, who look after desperate people crawling under a wall or sheltering under a desert bush, seeking, after a while, nothing more than life. Nothing less. Than life. 

For them the political and moral questions have faded away. First, food, shelter, safety. Then they may find themselves in custody, shipped to a place they have never known, or know all too well, but for now, life. Life is at stake. That is what it means to be in an existential moment.

You might say, and many argue, without panic, that this is an existential moment for our way of life, our way of being with one another. Democracy, yes, but more deeply, compassion. Justice, and the rule of law, we seek with our fellow human beings. We do not agree all together on how to find what we seek, but we know, certainly as worshipping human beings, on that goal at least.

How do you determine what is good, how do you determine what is right, in your daily life?

***

Our greatest contribution to the world is, by God's grace, to try to be who, as Christians, we are. -- Robert Bellah

Link to YouTube recording of Robert N. Bellah Lecture by Marian Budde

https://www.youtube.com/live/HsynDr_thrU