Thomas: Doubter or Realist?

Second Sunday of Easter

**Please note this service is based on the format of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW). Hymns and other prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit to the best of my ability.

**This is for personal use at home as the church is unable to gather in our houses of worship but together we can worship in our own homes.

Introduction to the day

In today’s gospel the risen Christ appears to the disciples and offers them the gift of peace. Even amid doubts and questions, we experience the resurrection in our Sunday gathering around word and meal, and in our everyday lives. Throughout the coming Sundays of Easter the first two readings will be from the Acts of the Apostles and the first letter of Peter. Even as the early Christians proclaimed the resurrection, we rejoice in the new birth and living hope we receive in baptism.

GATHERING

The Holy Spirit calls us together as the people of God.

CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS

Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God,

who forgives all our sin,

whose mercy endures forever.

Amen.

God of all mercy and consolation, come to the help of your people, turning us from our sin to live for you alone. Give us the power of your Holy Spirit that we may confess our sin, receive your forgiveness, and grow into the fullness of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.

Most merciful God,

we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name.

Amen.

In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all our sins. As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

THANKSGIVING FOR BAPTISM

Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God,

the fountain of living water,

the rock who gave us birth,

our light and our salvation.

Amen.

Joined to Christ in the waters of baptism,

we are clothed with God's mercy and forgiveness.

Let us give thanks for the gift of baptism.

We give you thanks, O God,

for in the beginning your Spirit moved over the waters

and by your Word you created the world,

calling forth life in which you took delight.

Through the waters of the flood you delivered Noah and his family.

Through the sea you led your people Israel from slavery into freedom.

At the river your Son was baptized by John and anointed with the Holy Spirit.

By water and your Word you claim us as daughters and sons,

making us heirs of your promise and servants of all.

We praise you for the gift of water that sustains life,

and above all we praise you for the gift of new life in Jesus Christ.

Shower us with your Spirit,

and renew our lives with your forgiveness, grace, and love.

To you be given honor and praise

through Jesus Christ our Lord

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Amen.

GATHERING SONG All Creatures Of Our God And King

Performed by The Tabernacle Choir

Listen Here

All creatures of our God and king
Lift up your voices and with us sing
Alleluia, alleluia

Thou burning with golden beam
Thou silver moon with softer gleam
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia,

Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in heaven a long
Alleluia, alleluia

Thou rising morn in praise rejoice
Ye light of evening find a voice
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia,

Thou flowing water pure and clear
Make music for thy Lord to hear
Alleluia, alleluia

Thou fire so masterful and bright
That gives to man both warmth and light
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

GREETING

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,

and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And also with you.

KYRIE

          Listen Here

Have mercy on us, Lord, and hear our solemn prayer.

We come to hear your living word; it saves us from despair.

Have mercy on us, Christ, and wash away our sin.

Pour out your grace and make us whole that new life may begin.

Have mercy on us, Lord, make sin and shame depart.

Renew us with your saving pow’r; create in us new hearts!

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Let us pray.

          (silence)

Almighty and eternal God, the strength of those who believe and the hope of those who doubt, may we, who have not seen, have faith in you and receive the fullness of Christ’s blessing, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

A reading from the Book of Acts                 2:14a, 22-32

After the Holy Spirit comes to the apostles on Pentecost, Peter preaches the gospel to the gathered crowd. He tells them that Jesus, who obediently went to his death according to God’s plan, was raised from the dead by God. Finally, he appeals to scripture, quoting Psalm 16:8-11, to show that Jesus is the Messiah: though crucified, the risen Jesus is now enthroned.

^14aPeter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed [the crowd], ²²“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know—²³this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. ²⁴But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. ²⁵For David says concerning him,
 ‘I saw the Lord always before me,
  for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
 ²⁶therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
  moreover my flesh will live in hope.
 ²⁷For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
  or let your Holy One experience corruption.
 ²⁸You have made known to me the ways of life;
  you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
  ²⁹“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
 ‘He was not abandoned to Hades,
  nor did his flesh experience corruption.’
³²This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.”

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Psalm 16

 ¹Protect me, O God, for I take ref- | uge in you;
  I have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, my good a- | bove all other.”
 ²All my delight is in the godly that are | in the land,
  upon those who are noble a- | mong the people.
 ³But those who run after | other gods
  shall have their troubles | multiplied.
 ⁴I will not pour out drink offerings | to such gods,
  never take their names up- | on my lips.
 ⁵O Lord, you are my portion | and my cup;
  it is you who up- | hold my lot.
 ⁶My boundaries enclose a | pleasant land;
  indeed, I have a | rich inheritance.
 ⁷I will bless the Lord who | gives me counsel;
  my heart teaches me night | after night.
 ⁸I have set the Lord al- | ways before me;
  because God is at my right hand, I shall | not be shaken.
 ⁹My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spir- | it rejoices;
  my body also shall | rest in hope.
 ¹⁰For you will not abandon me | to the grave,
  nor let your holy one | see the pit.
 ¹¹You will show me the | path of life;
  in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for- | evermore.

A reading from the First Letter of Peter               1:3-9

This epistle was written to encourage Christians experiencing hardships and suffering because of their faith in Christ. The letter opens by blessing God for the living hope we have through Christ’s resurrection even amid difficult circumstances and surroundings.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, ⁷so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, ⁹for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Alleluia! Lord and Savior: open now your saving word.

Let it burn like fire within us; speak until our hearts are stirred.

Alleluia! Lord, we sing for the good news that you bring.

The holy gospel according to John               20:19-31

Glory to you, O Lord.

The risen Jesus appears to his disciples, offering them a benediction, a commission, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. But one of their number is missing, and his unbelief prompts another visit from the Lord.

¹⁹When 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.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
  ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So 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.”
  ²⁶A 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.” ²⁷Then 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.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 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.”
  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.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Homily

Thomas is one of those disciples that we don’t really hear much about. He only comes up a few times, but his story, heard on the second Sunday of Easter in all three lectionary years, is quite a significant one.

Here’s the lowdown.

After Jesus is crucified, the boys hunker down in the upper room where they last feasted with Jesus, locking themselves away from the authorities. They are hiding out, waiting for things to blow over.

And they are grieving.

Well, most of them are anyway. Obviously Judas isn’t there, but strangely neither is Thomas.

While they are hiding, Jesus appears to them saying “Peace be with you”. Jesus shows them his wounds as proof that it really is him.

Not that the disciples should have needed proof, if they had been listening to everything Jesus had been saying to them leading up to his death.

But I digress.

Now John, in his Gospel, doesn’t tell us why Thomas isn’t there but sermon after sermon has assumed that Thomas was a doubter and lost his faith when Jesus died on the cross.

Try to put yourself in Thomas’ shoes.

How would you feel after watching your teacher, mentor, friend die such a gruesome death?

Maybe Thomas preferred to grieve alone so chose not to go to the upper room with the rest of the guys?

Every week, I get an email from a blog called In the Meantime, written by David Lose. His message about Thomas’ story was different than any I’ve heard before, and it makes sense to me.

What if Thomas, after watching Jesus die on the cross, wasn’t in the room with the others because he had already gone back to his life?

Through the last few weeks, as we do our own hunkering down because of COVID-19, there is a lot of chatter about the “new normal”, how it will be nice to “get back to normal”, and “what will normal look like” after all this is finished.

I have doubts about many things these days like will this ever end, and what will like look like in a few days, weeks, months?

How many of us will have doubt about re-entering the world after we are given the “all clear”?

Perhaps Thomas’ absence from the upper room that day Jesus first appeared wasn’t about doubt and having lost faith.

As Mr. Lose ponders, “Maybe it’s because, unlike the other disciples who are hiding behind locked doors, Thomas has already accepted what has happened, has moved on, and is now out and about rebuilding his life from the fractured pieces that were left to him after the horrific events of Good Friday.”

Even though Thomas has been labelled as the doubter, he does show courage in his few portrayals in the Gospels, including being the only one urging the disciples to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, even though it may mean their death (John 11:16).

Thomas is also a realist. He accepted Jesus’ death at face value, grieved in his own way, and went back to life.

Thomas watched his friend die an agonizing death, so is it really a surprise that he doesn’t believe his friends when they tell him what happened in that room, when they tell him they have seen Jesus?

Mr. Lose has this thought about Thomas’ reaction: “his noticeable change in tune is less about simply coming to faith and more about realizing that, after the resurrection, reality itself had changed and there would be no normal to go back to.”

Thomas declares his acceptance “my Lord and my God!” and by all appearances, Jesus rebukes him, but really Jesus is blessing both immediate believers and future believers, and then challenging us all to live in a post-resurrection “new normal”.

Pieces of us have died as our isolation continues. We are grieving the loss of regular activities, whether work or play, community groups, coffee with friends, and dinners with family.

Our Holy Week and Easter looked nothing like “normal” and Easter dinners were almost non-existent.

We are grieving, and that’s okay.

We have doubts about the future, and that’s okay.

We also have faith that Jesus is with us through all of it, that God is present in our lives even as we question the world around us.

Jesus walks with us through the pain of figuring out what normal is now and what normal will be tomorrow, next week, next month, next year.

When we resurrect from this pandemic, nothing will be the same.

And I say Amen to that, because changes were needed!

Let us take up Jesus’ challenge together and find the blessings that exist, even in these strange and isolating times.

(Silence)

 HYMN OF THE DAY “I Will Not Be Shaken” by Steve Bell

            ListenHere

CREED

Let us confess the faith of our baptism as we say:

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven,

was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary

and became truly human.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

Uplifted by the promised hope of healing and resurrection, we join the people of God in all times and places in praying for the church, the world, and all who are in need.

Open the doors we close, O God, when we fear those who worship you in different ways. Guide us to unity and harmony so that we may come to respect and cherish our commonalities. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Open the paths we ignore, O God, when we prioritize financial gain and convenience over listening to the groaning of the earth. Inspire all to care for the world you have made so that living things might thrive. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Open the rooms we lock, O God, to those who live without a homeland or place of safety. We pray that generous nations offer refuge and peace for all. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Open the hearts we close, O God, to the cries of those in pain. We pray for those isolated physically or emotionally through incarceration, addiction, mental illness, chronic suffering, grief, and all in need (name aloud or in your hearts all those for whom need your prayers). Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Open the ways of love, O God, in the pursuit of peace throughout the world, and bless the efforts of missionaries, healthcare professionals, activists for women and children, and relief workers, especially those who find themselves in harm’s way. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Open the way to eternal life, O God, as we remember those who have died in faith. Free us from the fear of death, that we embrace the peace you have promised. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.

With bold confidence in your love, almighty God, we place all for whom we pray into your eternal care; through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

PEACE

The peace of Christ be with you always.

And also with you.

OFFERING

** Although not physically at our church buildings to share our offering together I would encourage you to set your offering of money aside so that it can be dropped off or placed in the church once services resume, to mail your offering to the church, or to make donations online. Please remember ministry is still taking place.**

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with your free Spirit.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.

OFFERING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Blessed are you, O God, ruler of heaven and earth. Day by day you shower us with blessings. As you have raised us to new life in Christ, give us glad and generous hearts, ready to praise you and to respond to those in need, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

PREFACE

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy,

that we should at all times and in all places

give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God,

for the glorious resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ,

the true Paschal Lamb who gave himself to take away our sin;

who in dying has destroyed death,

and in rising has brought us to eternal life.

And so, with Mary Magdalene and Peter and all the witnesses of the resurrection,

with earth and sea and all their creatures,

and with angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of power and might,

heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest,

hosanna in the highest.

LORD’S PRAYER

Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those

who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours,

now and forever. Amen.

Let us pray.

Life-giving God, in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection you send light to conquer darkness, water to give new life, and the bread of life to nourish your people. Send us forth as witnesses to your Son’s resurrection, that we may show your glory to all the world, through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.

Amen.

BLESSING

The God of steadfastness and encouragement

grant you to live in harmony with one another,

in accordance with Christ Jesus.

Amen.

The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,

so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The God of all grace ☩ bless you now and forever.

Amen.

SENDING SONG Alleluia! Christ Is Arisen (ELW 375)

Performed by the National Lutheran Choir

Listen Here
Refrain
Alleluia! Christ is arisen.
Bright is the dawning of the Lord's day.

1 Run, faithful women, to the grave-side.
Marvel, the stone is rolled away!
Hear from the angel, "He is risen."
Christ goes before you all the way. Refrain

2 Rise, Magdalena, from your weeping;
Christ stands before your very eyes.
Quickly return to the disciples;
bear the good news: "He is alive." Refrain

3 Gather, disciples, in the evening:
suddenly Christ your Lord appears.
"Look, it is I, your wounded Savior.
Peace be with you, and do not fear." Refrain

4 Thomas, where were you on that evening?
"I'll not believe unless I see."
Christ comes again, and ev'ry Lord's day:
"Touch me and see; have faith in me." Refrain

DISMISSAL

Go in peace. Share the good news.

Thanks be to God.