WEBVTT 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:16.000 Alright, so for Easter, we're gonna always start with the Greek phrase, and the English translation follows. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:20.639 So I'll say Christos and Esti, which means hallelujah, Christ is risen. 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:23.759 And your line is Aliphos anesti. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:30.159 Aliphos an esti, which means the Lord is truly risen or the Lord is risen indeed. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:34.159 Christos and Esth, hallelujah, Christ is risen. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:38.319 Alethos and estes, the Lord is risen indeed. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:39.360 Hallelujah. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:41.039 Let's pray together. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:03:00.800 Almighty God, you all are served men, all serpents, and from you no secrets are hearts by the inspiration of your Spirit that we may perfectly love you and perfectly magnify your holy name through Christ. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:48.720 Let us pray. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:57.519 Almighty and everlasting everlasting God, who in the paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:06.240 Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:12.319 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, lives and rains with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, the Reverend. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:19.199 After being seated, our children greatly five and love are invited to the God in the way. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:28.720 Then they returned to Jerusalem from a mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day away. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:07:00.399 And when they entered the city, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying, Peter and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, son of Atheus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, son of James, all were persevering in prayer together with women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, as well as the sisters and brothers with the word of the Lord. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:07.600 A reading from the third Psalm, please respond at the half verse. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:10.079 Praise the living God. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:13.920 I will give thanks to the one God with my whole heart. 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:20.480 Great are the works of God. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:27.199 Splendor and majesty are her work. 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:34.480 She has gained renown for her wonderful deeds. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:43.279 She provides fresh meat for those who revere her. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.639 She has declared the strength of her works to her people. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:58.000 The works of her hands are truth and justice. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:04.639 They stand fast forever and ever. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:10.959 She sent redemption to her people. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:14.319 She has ordained her covenant forever. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:25.680 And all those who do have a good understanding. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:28.879 But Thomas, one of the twelve, who was called Didymus, the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.879 So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Messiah. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:43.039 But he said to them, Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the marks of the nail and my hand to his side, I will not leave. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:49.039 And within eight days his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:55.679 And Jesus came through the door, though the doors were shut, and stood among them and said, Peace be with you all. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:59.919 Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and look at my hands. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:04.639 Bring your hand and put it in my side, and do not doubt, rather believe. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:08.399 Thomas answered him, saying, My Savior and my God. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:12.480 Jesus said to him, Was it because you have seen me that you believed? 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:15.759 Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:29.200 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may come to believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:31.919 This is the gospel of the Lord. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.919 In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:46.559 Amen. 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:53.120 Good morning, everybody. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:55.200 Happy Easter. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:13:58.639 Happy Easter, yeah. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:04.320 So we're going to talk about the ending of the Gospel of John today. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:22.159 Now notice uh I did say ending because even though some of you know your Bible enough to know that there is a chapter 21, I am among the people in the scholarship world who believes that this was actually the original ending of the gospel. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:37.279 Like, and if you read it, that makes sense because he tells you, or she, he actually might probably a woman who actually wrote this, in my opinion, but whoever wrote this gospel, like, tells you we're done. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:38.240 Right? 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:44.879 Like, we record, there were many other things that were recorded, but these, they tell you the purpose. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:54.320 These were recorded so that you would believe that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and that in believing you will have life in his name. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:59.039 Doesn't make sense if then all of a sudden it's like, oh, by the way, there's another whole chapter of stories, right? 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:02.720 So I think this is, and this is sort of the interpretive lens. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:05.039 I mean, this is what's great about like really good literature. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:15.600 Well, I mean, it doesn't always have to be like this, but a lot of really good literature, like the end kind of gives you the interpretive lens about the purpose of writing the narrative or the story. 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:19.519 And so the purpose of this gospel was that we could believe. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:22.159 Now, what does that mean, that word? 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:24.159 Believe. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:30.960 Now, some of you have heard this word used in church contexts in a way that Mike and I don't use it. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:35.840 You think that it has to do with like intellectual assent or agreement. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:37.840 There are people out there that preach that. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.559 That do you think that this factually happened? 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:42.480 And if you do, then you get a prize. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:43.039 Right? 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:45.440 It's sort of like a yes or no question. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:54.159 If you believe that Jesus Christ was God and that he was raised from the dead, yes or no, and if you do, then you get the prize of going to heaven at some point. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:16:02.000 This transactional way of understanding belief that it's sort of intellectual agreement or assent that certain events happened. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:05.039 But friends, that's actually not what the word means. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:17.600 At least historically, or throughout culture and languages, at least in the context of this gospel, the word believe has to do with like your heart or your being. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:20.399 So like in Greek it actually could be translated as faith. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:24.799 In English, believe, in Latin, credo, where we get our word creed. 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:30.639 And it has to do with like putting towards like love is the root of it, right, in the English, in the belief. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:36.879 It comes from like putting like your yourself, your existence inside of something, your love inside of something. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:41.200 In credo, it's like giving your heart over to a reality. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:45.759 So, in some ways, like a better word for believe is trust. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:51.039 The way that I'm gonna say is that trusting, right? 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:56.879 Entrusting your life to a reality that you are trying to understand. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.200 It's trusting your life to a reality. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:02.960 And friends, we do this all the time. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:04.160 Like we need to believe. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:10.240 Like human beings, our brains, our lives, we like entrust ourselves to realities all of the time. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:13.359 Am I the only one here that drives a car? 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:26.799 When you get into that missile, like that missile that we take up to 90 miles an hour, you are believing, you are entrusting your reality, your life, that everybody else is gonna follow the rules. 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:29.039 How ludicrous this is? 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:33.920 Because we drive around assuming everybody else is gonna play by the same rules. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.720 You are living inside that reality. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:39.519 And this is how like science works. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.400 I love people who are like, oh, I don't believe in religion, I believe in science. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.319 It's like, you think we don't? 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:47.680 Here, let me show you how much I believe in science. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:57.039 I just believed and entrusted myself to the reality that a wormhole wasn't gonna open up and I was gonna go through a portal to another dimension. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:01.440 I believe in the repeated reality of the way matter is moving. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:03.440 Anyone fly an airplane? 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.160 Do you believe in physics or have you been in an airplane? 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:07.839 Of course you believe in science. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.480 You're entrusting your life to a reality and a narrative. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:14.480 This is how our brains work. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:21.440 Now, the thing is, it's we've got to answer all kinds of questions around what do we trust and believe. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:27.119 For instance, do you believe, or do you entrust yourself to the reality that people are good? 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.279 That's a trust, that's a tough one, isn't it? 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.359 I don't always do that, do you? 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:36.000 That they're made in the image of God? 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:58.000 Do you entrust yourself to the reality that welcoming in the stranger, or forgiveness, or generosity, shivering, forgiving, all of the things that we talk about on Sunday morning when you come here, we're inviting you to entrust a reality that doesn't always feel intuitive. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:03.440 In fact, many times it feels really counterintuitive to pray for my enemies? 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:11.119 To assume that everybody is made in the image of God and treat them with that dignity, even though they do horrible things to me and other people? 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:16.880 I mean, we are being asked to entrust ourselves to a reality that is no ways intuitive. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:23.119 I mean, I go out there in the world and I am being bombarded with messages that tell me don't trust anybody. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:27.200 You can't trust video, you can't trust social media, you don't know what is real anymore. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:28.319 Don't trust anything. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:31.599 Just be scared, basically, all of the time. 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:37.279 And grab as much power and money and influence to protect yourself and the people that you love. 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.079 Because you can't trust anything. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:42.960 That's what it feels like for me when I go out there. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:46.559 Am I the only one that has a hard time trusting what is real? 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:57.200 And so I think part of what we're doing is we're coming here together to try to believe, to entrust ourselves to a different story. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:18.880 And I'm gonna say that like this reality of resurrection that we're in right now, this post-Eas this Easter season, when we make a claim about the foundation of the universe, about God, about the reality underneath all things, is probably the most important interpretive key to the gospel. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:20.079 So, I mean, at least I think St. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:25.200 Paul says that in his letters to the Corinthians, when he talks about the resurrection being critical. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:30.000 Like, we get this right, we entrust ourselves to this, it empowers us to do other things. 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:37.039 So, what's the the thing that like the gospel is asking us to trust our life with? 00:20:37.920 --> 00:21:19.680 Well, I mean, I think after having walked a really beautiful holy week, is that on some level that the pain, the hurt, the brokenness, the sin, the violence, the scarcity, all of the horrible realities that we experience in our life and in the world that feels like it's completely unredemptive, that there's nothing beautiful there, and there's nothing that God or anybody can do about it, that God can take that in a way that we don't understand and breathe life into it and make something that's a big ask to believe that. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:21.839 But I think that's I think that's why we're here. 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:33.920 I think that's why we we we come back, because I think if if if we can get that, right, if we can look at the world and trust that, it changes, it transforms us. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:35.920 It transforms us. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:38.960 So, how does that happen, right? 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:41.119 Like, how do we how do we look at these places? 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:52.559 I looking at the there's some things about this that I think are really interesting about the way this gospel ends regarding this trusting the reality of resurrection and a God of resurrection, a God who makes things new. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:57.759 I think the first, which is interesting, is that we always have to remember that it's relational. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.759 Like the reality of God is. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.960 Is relational. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:03.119 We believe in the incarnation. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:08.720 We believe in relationship that God inherently is that. 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:10.480 That's what we mean by Trinity. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:20.480 And that somehow for us to experience that more fully, the reality of resurrection, I think the invitation is to like invite ourselves into that relationship. 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:21.359 I mean, think about this. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:25.200 I said it earlier, Mike and I have been friends for like eight, ten years. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:28.160 But over the last year, we've gotten a whole lot closer. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:28.640 Why? 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:30.160 Why do you think that is? 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:34.079 It's not your question. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.079 D I M E, I. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:39.839 Relationship, relationship means connection. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:44.880 But the reality is that to grow in depth of relationship, people have to spend time together. 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.240 The God of relationship is saying, like, time. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.000 You're invited into a reality of spending time together, whatever that means. 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:55.920 We have lots of ways that people have talked about what that means for them. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:03.599 But the reality is, is that to experience the reality of resurrection, it requires spending time with God. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:05.200 Whatever that looks like. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:07.279 I mean, you're here, I'm preaching to the crowd, right? 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:09.279 Literally preaching to the crowd. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:16.000 But what does it mean to believe in a God of relationship that is interested in spending time with us? 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:26.000 And not only that, but like, in some ways it's it's even more, it's like a God that is interested in breaking into the fears of our life. 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:27.279 And I love this at the point. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:29.359 This is a big trust statement, isn't it? 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:37.599 I mean, this is the night that Mary experiences the tomb, the gardener, the risen Jesus. 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:39.519 So that evening is what it says. 00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:48.000 And the disciples are locked away in fear and failure and uncertainty, right? 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:51.680 And shame prominently, uncertain about what was going to happen. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:56.640 They were completely, utterly locked away in the fear of their life. 00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:58.480 The fear of suffering. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:07.920 Friends, I have to believe, I'm getting to the point where I believe that all fear on some level is related to suffering and our fear of pain in our lives, the people that we love, which causes us pain. 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:11.599 And so they are just overwhelmed by fear, locked away. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:14.640 And the story says God breaks into that. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.319 That's really beautiful for me. 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:20.079 Is that I don't have to earn it. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:24.799 Like we take for granted that God is trying to invite God's self. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:27.359 God is inviting God's self into the fears. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:29.599 Friends, this is where you know what you trust. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:39.839 If you're sitting here right now wondering whether or not you believe, you trust, right, in the reality that Jesus revealed as the face of the living God, go to your fears. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:46.559 That is where what we trust immediately comes out when we find out what we're most afraid of. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:56.960 God breaks in to the fearful, broken, failure reality of these disciples and breathes peace upon them. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:24:59.359 Gives God's very open. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:15.039 Like breathe, like came in and gave God's very. 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:16.079 This is our Pentecost. 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:17.759 This is John's Pentecost. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:27.920 The very breath of God, the resurrected Jesus, gives to us the very breath of God to recreate, to be part of something new. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:34.240 Taking the worst violence and reality that I've ever read about. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:38.319 I mean, truly, there may have been a there may be one that's close, right? 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:39.359 But I'm not going to go there. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:53.920 But but the violence that was put upon the figure of Jesus Christ, the brokenness, the betrayal, the abandonment, the violence, I mean, everything, the worst of humanity put upon, and something was made new out of that. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:58.000 And so God goes in and breathes God's break. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:00.559 Jesus breathes God's very own breath. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:08.720 And then you have Thomas, interesting character who is, you know, not there. 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:15.440 And I call reasonable Thomas, incredibly reasonable Thomas, who this character's namesake, St. 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:15.839 Thomas. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:16.079 St. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:17.680 Thomas the Reasonable. 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:20.160 Thanks for laughing at that. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:20.559 So St. 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:23.200 Thomas the Reasonable, he's not there. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:24.240 Who knows what he's doing? 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:28.079 He comes back and they say, Well, we're locked away in fear. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:34.079 And then Jesus showed up embodied, and he breathed his very own breath upon us and said, Shalom, peace be with you. 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:37.759 And then told us to go out into the world, and we haven't moved. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:42.079 I mean, if I was Thomas, I'd be like, Yeah, that happened, didn't it? 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:44.240 Okay, let's get some food. 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:45.039 Right? 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:47.359 Like, let's get some food. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:48.960 So I understand. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:51.200 Thomas said, I'm not going to take secondhand. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:27:00.960 Thomas, what I love about this part of the story in this reality of resurrection is Thomas says, like, I need you, God, to meet me where I'm at. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:04.319 I need you to meet me where I'm at. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:14.000 If you want me to put myself into your story, so Mike said earlier, if you want me to put my life into your life, I literally need to put my fingers in it. 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:15.759 I want to put my entire life inside. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:19.200 If you want me to believe, if you want me to trust, then I need you to show up. 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:20.640 And God does. 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:22.559 I mean, it's interesting. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:24.960 God shows up. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:33.680 And I love this because it gives us permission to name what we need in relationship with the God that is making all things new. 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:34.640 I need more. 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:37.519 I need to put my hands in it. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:39.680 I'm losing that trust. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:44.880 I believe, help my unbelief, is my favorite line in all scripture. 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:48.480 I trust, help my untrust and my distrust. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:49.599 This is what I need. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:50.640 And Thomas gets it. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:51.440 Now, here's the thing. 00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:53.920 I don't know if we all get it. 00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:56.880 I think sometimes we don't, not until we die. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:27:59.759 I think that's that's kind of a rub here, friends. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:08.720 That's the testimony of the witness of people, is that sometimes, despite a life of yearning, we don't feel that. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:10.720 And that's not a failure on your part. 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:13.359 We say that God is faithful even unto death. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:17.519 So even at the grave, we sing allelujah, hallelujah, alleluia. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:25.039 We trust that if you go your whole life not getting the balm that you need for the suffering or the pain, that you're going to get him when you die. 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:27.599 That is as close as I'm going to get, right? 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.799 To this reality of bringing things together. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:33.279 This isn't a reality of you're going off to heaven. 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:35.200 This is that God is faithful. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:39.279 That the reality of suffering is temporary. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:41.039 I believe that. 00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:43.680 I bet my life on that. 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:53.039 Now, here's the thing that I think we have to see about healing and reconciliation and the things being made new. 00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:59.920 Is that I think if we look at the text, a big piece of this is forgiveness. 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:03.039 A big piece of this is forgiveness. 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:13.920 I don't know if that's good news for you or bad news for you, but Mike just wrote a really good book on reconciliation and forgiveness, and the process is directly tied to the reality of making things new. 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:18.559 That as resurrection people, that's a part of it. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:21.119 That's where healing comes. 00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:27.279 Forgiving ourselves, for me, primarily forgiving other people that have hurt us. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:31.759 Being people of reconciliation and healing in the world. 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:34.640 And notice I say healing, friends, I've got to be crystal clear. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:36.319 I'm not talking about curing. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:42.559 I'm talking about healing that is related to peace, that is related to hope. 00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:52.079 I was a chaplain in a hospital twice, and let me tell you, I have walked into plenty of rooms where people did not experience any curing, but they sure did have healing. 00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:58.640 There was no curing, but there sure was healing. 00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:04.319 I think that's why we come here on Sundays and we gather. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:05.440 I don't know how people do. 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:29.279 Friends, I'm gonna lead here and I'm gonna do the best that I can to run this operating system in my life, to have faith, to believe, to bet my life on this truth and reality, that the underlying reality of all things is real, and it's relational, and it is seeking healing and reconciliation of all things, and it's not afraid of our failures and our hurts and our pain, or dare I even say, our suffering. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:41.839 And it's about the work of inviting us into relationship, where we then become part of the engine of healing, and that involves forgiveness and generosity and integrity and welcoming in the stranger and all the things that we talk about. 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:46.400 That this is what we're being invited to trust. 00:30:48.640 --> 00:31:02.559 So I come back here and I just hope that on the days that I can't trust that, that I can't believe that, it just seems too hard that somebody else says, Well, today it's a little bit easier for me. 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:04.640 Let me tell you a story. 00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:06.480 Let me testify, let me witness. 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:22.160 I know these words have been so abusive in other traditions, but let me tell you a story about how God took this thing and something new was made, about how I experienced the shalom and the peace, how I had curing that wasn't, had healing that wasn't curing, that I found hope. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.720 That God took the worst reality and in some way that I don't understand. 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:33.920 Looking back, I was part of the creation of something that was beautiful and inspiring, that gave breath and life. 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:36.480 I think this is the invitation. 00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:46.799 When we look at Jesus as the face of the living God, and we are told that by believing in that, by trusting in that reality, we will have life abundant. 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:48.079 I think that's what it means. 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:49.119 I think that's it. 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:51.119 This is where life is at. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:53.920 This is where life is at. 00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:03.039 I want to say the Lord is risen. 00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:12.559 And the Lord is not only risen, but the Lord, I do believe, is active, participatory in this community, in the world, in our lives. 00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:15.200 And then we can trust that. 00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:16.400 It's hard. 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:28.000 But we can, and if we can trust that a little bit more and change the way that we're looking and perceiving in the world, then we will experience life. 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:35.440 And we can be a part of having other people experience more life.