A Faith that Lasts
04/15/07
Easter 2
John 20:19-31
Dear friends in Christ,
A week ago yesterday, in the early afternoon, I was in the sanctuary here with Joe, our youth director, finishing up a few final details for our Easter Sunday service the next day. We were talking about Easter morning. We both agreed, Easter Sunday is the greatest morning of the church year, certainly from our perspective as Christian leaders. There’s no question it is a lot of work getting ready. There are flowers to be ordered and arranged. Services, bulletins, and an Easter sermon to be prepared. There are all kinds of youth and adult leaders needed to serve the annual Easter breakfast. I could go on, but you get the idea.
What I like about Easter is that it is the one Sunday of the year that we come together to declare the good news with relatively few distractions or competition from other things. Christmas, of course, would be the other high point of the year. But along with the message of Christmas comes all the hype and stress of gift giving, which in our consumer culture has gone way over the top. Other than the Easter bunny bringing a basket of goodies and perhaps a few small gifts, Easter has pretty much stayed away from that. Christmas Eve can fall on any day of the week, and there can be competition and distractions away from the service and the message. A few years back the Vikings played the Packers at home the afternoon of Christmas Eve, for example. But Easter morning, always on Sunday, is pretty well reserved for us, Christians worshipping and giving thanks for the resurrection.
Easter Sunday is a great day. For most churches this is the highest, best attended Sunday of the year. We had nearly 600 people here last week for our three services, more than double what we typically average for Sunday services over the course of the year. When it’s all said and done we breathe a collective sigh of relief, satisfied and exhausted at the same time.
Easter Sunday is a great day in the church. It would be nice if we could continue that enthusiasm and spirit every week, but we know that’s not possible. We’re human. Truthfully, we’re not physically, emotionally, or spiritually able to maintain that kind of intensity. And that’s why I find this gospel lesson from John about the doubts of Thomas to be such a help the Sunday after Easter. For this lesson tells us what’s really necessary after we’ve celebrated the resurrection. This lesson tells us what we need to go on. This lesson tells us what can sustain us when we’re no longer feeling the emotional high of Easter. This lesson tells us what really matters is faith – a sustaining faith, a lasting faith – a faith that will be with us through no matter what life brings our way. So this morning I want to talk about faith and how we can develop a deep, abiding, life sustaining faith.
The first thing I want to say about faith is that we acquire it or it comes to us more through the ears than through the eyes. Thomas was one of the disciples. The evening of the resurrection Christ appeared to the group, but Thomas was not present. When the other disciples said that they had seen the Lord, Thomas was skeptical. He wanted to see the mark of nails in his hands and put his hand in the wound of his side.
A week later Jesus again appeared to the disciples, only this time Thomas was present. Jesus allowed him to feel the nail marks in his hands and wound in his side. He saw that it really was the risen Lord. But then Jesus said something that is so important for us. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.”
Seeing is not what was going to be most important for the generations to follow. Jesus was not going to continue to make these resurrection appearances indefinitely in the world. What would matter would be hearing this good news. It would be the telling of the story and responding to this message of love which would give birth to believers and the church. A lasting, enduring faith comes when we hear the Word of God, let it enter our lives, and seek to live in accordance with it.
I’m glad for all the people who came to hear the message last Sunday as we sang it and read it and preached it and prayed it. I hope it touched lives. But I’m even happier that you’ve returned this week to sing it and read it and hear it and pray it again. For if you want a deep, lasting faith, you need to be fed on a regular basis. Once or twice a year is not enough. Faith comes through the ears and we need to hear the story again and again if we are to have a lasting faith.
This lesson also teaches us that faith often develops over time. Of course, there can be and are very dramatic stories of conversion to the faith such as what happened to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. But just as often faith is developed over time, which was more the case of Christ’s disciples.
This is the model that Lutheran churches tend to follow. We bring our newborn children to the font of God’s grace and then seek to raise them into a life of faith. Confirmation is the time when children affirm their Baptism, say for themselves what was said on their behalf at Baptism. There’s no greater gift you can give as a parent than to give your children the opportunity to come to faith in Christ.
John Westerhoff wrote a book titled, “Will Our Children Have Faith?” In it he talks about four stages of faith development. I like this, because it seems to reflect what I’ve seen and experienced both in my own life and in the lives of many others.
The first stage he calls experienced faith and this occurs in preschool and early childhood. At this stage children imitate much of what they see. They accept what they are being taught by their parents, preschool teacher, or Sunday school teacher, even though they may not understand it fully. They might, for example, learn to say the Lord’s prayer or sing a simple song without knowing what all the words mean. If you’ve got children or grandchildren of this age, what you as parents are modeling is making a huge impact. If you want them to learn what faith is, model it by what you do. Don’t wait until they’re thirteen years old and suddenly think that now they’ll learn what faith is. You’ve lost valuable years when children can first acquire experienced faith.
The next stage he calls affiliative faith which occurs in elementary school and early adolescence. Now children are more likely to be part of a group, like a Sunday School class or choir and to accept the values and beliefs of the group. This is what we do as a church group. This is what we believe. At this stage you want your kids in positive groups so they can learn the faith from one another.
The next stage is the tough one. Thomas is our example of this and it’s called searching faith. It’s often part of adolescence. late adolescence, even early adulthood. It’s marked by the question, “Is this what I believe?” This is the point where we often turn teenagers over to the youth pastor and say, “Good luck!” Adults get pretty nervous about this stage, fearing it rather than embracing it as normal and giving a person a safe place to ask questions and explore faith. Ideally a person with searching faith will remain within the faith community during this searching process. That’s what Thomas did. He remained with the other disciples, eventually discovering the answers to his questions. That’s why confirmation and youth ministry need to be an essential part of the church. As hard and frustrating as those ministries can be at times, we need to give youth the chance to search within the context of the faith community.
The final stage is owned faith. Following the searching faith, when the question is asked, “Is this what I believe?” hopefully comes the answer, “This is what I believe.” It’s my faith. I believe it. This faith will last and sustain me through the challenges of daily life. Thomas came to the stage of owned faith. But it was a process. If you leave out the earlier steps, you are less likely to have someone reach this final stage.
Thomas will be forever known as “Doubting Thomas.” But he doubted because he wanted to be sure. Out of his doubts came a certainty of faith. Maybe it would be better to call him “Confessing Thomas,” because out of all the disciples in the room, only he uttered the confession, “My Lord and My God!” We see in this lesson that a lasting faith is often a process that develops over time. Hopefully, we can all come to the place that Thomas did, confessing Jesus as “My Lord and My God.”
Finally, a faith that lasts and sustains us over time is one that fully trusts God’s presence in all circumstances. In the Acts lesson, Peter demonstrates such faith, when, even after being arrested and standing before the High Priest, he still boldly proclaims Jesus as the risen Messiah.
Last Thursday evening I participated in a very meaningful event organized by the Forest Lake Area Churches to pray for and show support for the families who have loved ones serving in the military, particularly those deployed overseas. A number of speakers talked about what it was like having a spouse or son or daughter away, in several cases serving in a war zone like Iraq or Afghanistan. One woman, Kelly Freudenberg, spoke about the pain of losing her son, who was killed in Iraq in 2005. We offered prayers for the families and the soldiers and the injured, as well as prayers that peace may soon come.
What struck me from the testimonies that people gave, was this deep, abiding faith by which they live. Kelly spoke eloquently about never wanting her son taken from her, but in the end knowing that he has truly gone home, to be with Jesus. Others spoke of living according to God’s will, and not their own. It’s a hard thing to do, to give up yourself and your loved ones to the Lord. But that’s faith, trusting that no matter what happens, God is present and God is love. A lasting faith yields fully to God, trusting God is always there.
Easter Sunday has come and gone. We really can’t duplicate last week’s experience. But that’s ok, because it’s daily faith that must sustain us. It is faith that comes by hearing the Word, more through the ears than they eyes. It is faith that matures over time. It is faith that yields fully to God. May you know this deep, abiding, lasting faith and may it lead you all of your days. Amen
John 20:19-31
Dear friends in Christ,
A week ago yesterday, in the early afternoon, I was in the sanctuary here with Joe, our youth director, finishing up a few final details for our Easter Sunday service the next day. We were talking about Easter morning. We both agreed, Easter Sunday is the greatest morning of the church year, certainly from our perspective as Christian leaders. There’s no question it is a lot of work getting ready. There are flowers to be ordered and arranged. Services, bulletins, and an Easter sermon to be prepared. There are all kinds of youth and adult leaders needed to serve the annual Easter breakfast. I could go on, but you get the idea.
What I like about Easter is that it is the one Sunday of the year that we come together to declare the good news with relatively few distractions or competition from other things. Christmas, of course, would be the other high point of the year. But along with the message of Christmas comes all the hype and stress of gift giving, which in our consumer culture has gone way over the top. Other than the Easter bunny bringing a basket of goodies and perhaps a few small gifts, Easter has pretty much stayed away from that. Christmas Eve can fall on any day of the week, and there can be competition and distractions away from the service and the message. A few years back the Vikings played the Packers at home the afternoon of Christmas Eve, for example. But Easter morning, always on Sunday, is pretty well reserved for us, Christians worshipping and giving thanks for the resurrection.
Easter Sunday is a great day. For most churches this is the highest, best attended Sunday of the year. We had nearly 600 people here last week for our three services, more than double what we typically average for Sunday services over the course of the year. When it’s all said and done we breathe a collective sigh of relief, satisfied and exhausted at the same time.
Easter Sunday is a great day in the church. It would be nice if we could continue that enthusiasm and spirit every week, but we know that’s not possible. We’re human. Truthfully, we’re not physically, emotionally, or spiritually able to maintain that kind of intensity. And that’s why I find this gospel lesson from John about the doubts of Thomas to be such a help the Sunday after Easter. For this lesson tells us what’s really necessary after we’ve celebrated the resurrection. This lesson tells us what we need to go on. This lesson tells us what can sustain us when we’re no longer feeling the emotional high of Easter. This lesson tells us what really matters is faith – a sustaining faith, a lasting faith – a faith that will be with us through no matter what life brings our way. So this morning I want to talk about faith and how we can develop a deep, abiding, life sustaining faith.
The first thing I want to say about faith is that we acquire it or it comes to us more through the ears than through the eyes. Thomas was one of the disciples. The evening of the resurrection Christ appeared to the group, but Thomas was not present. When the other disciples said that they had seen the Lord, Thomas was skeptical. He wanted to see the mark of nails in his hands and put his hand in the wound of his side.
A week later Jesus again appeared to the disciples, only this time Thomas was present. Jesus allowed him to feel the nail marks in his hands and wound in his side. He saw that it really was the risen Lord. But then Jesus said something that is so important for us. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.”
Seeing is not what was going to be most important for the generations to follow. Jesus was not going to continue to make these resurrection appearances indefinitely in the world. What would matter would be hearing this good news. It would be the telling of the story and responding to this message of love which would give birth to believers and the church. A lasting, enduring faith comes when we hear the Word of God, let it enter our lives, and seek to live in accordance with it.
I’m glad for all the people who came to hear the message last Sunday as we sang it and read it and preached it and prayed it. I hope it touched lives. But I’m even happier that you’ve returned this week to sing it and read it and hear it and pray it again. For if you want a deep, lasting faith, you need to be fed on a regular basis. Once or twice a year is not enough. Faith comes through the ears and we need to hear the story again and again if we are to have a lasting faith.
This lesson also teaches us that faith often develops over time. Of course, there can be and are very dramatic stories of conversion to the faith such as what happened to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. But just as often faith is developed over time, which was more the case of Christ’s disciples.
This is the model that Lutheran churches tend to follow. We bring our newborn children to the font of God’s grace and then seek to raise them into a life of faith. Confirmation is the time when children affirm their Baptism, say for themselves what was said on their behalf at Baptism. There’s no greater gift you can give as a parent than to give your children the opportunity to come to faith in Christ.
John Westerhoff wrote a book titled, “Will Our Children Have Faith?” In it he talks about four stages of faith development. I like this, because it seems to reflect what I’ve seen and experienced both in my own life and in the lives of many others.
The first stage he calls experienced faith and this occurs in preschool and early childhood. At this stage children imitate much of what they see. They accept what they are being taught by their parents, preschool teacher, or Sunday school teacher, even though they may not understand it fully. They might, for example, learn to say the Lord’s prayer or sing a simple song without knowing what all the words mean. If you’ve got children or grandchildren of this age, what you as parents are modeling is making a huge impact. If you want them to learn what faith is, model it by what you do. Don’t wait until they’re thirteen years old and suddenly think that now they’ll learn what faith is. You’ve lost valuable years when children can first acquire experienced faith.
The next stage he calls affiliative faith which occurs in elementary school and early adolescence. Now children are more likely to be part of a group, like a Sunday School class or choir and to accept the values and beliefs of the group. This is what we do as a church group. This is what we believe. At this stage you want your kids in positive groups so they can learn the faith from one another.
The next stage is the tough one. Thomas is our example of this and it’s called searching faith. It’s often part of adolescence. late adolescence, even early adulthood. It’s marked by the question, “Is this what I believe?” This is the point where we often turn teenagers over to the youth pastor and say, “Good luck!” Adults get pretty nervous about this stage, fearing it rather than embracing it as normal and giving a person a safe place to ask questions and explore faith. Ideally a person with searching faith will remain within the faith community during this searching process. That’s what Thomas did. He remained with the other disciples, eventually discovering the answers to his questions. That’s why confirmation and youth ministry need to be an essential part of the church. As hard and frustrating as those ministries can be at times, we need to give youth the chance to search within the context of the faith community.
The final stage is owned faith. Following the searching faith, when the question is asked, “Is this what I believe?” hopefully comes the answer, “This is what I believe.” It’s my faith. I believe it. This faith will last and sustain me through the challenges of daily life. Thomas came to the stage of owned faith. But it was a process. If you leave out the earlier steps, you are less likely to have someone reach this final stage.
Thomas will be forever known as “Doubting Thomas.” But he doubted because he wanted to be sure. Out of his doubts came a certainty of faith. Maybe it would be better to call him “Confessing Thomas,” because out of all the disciples in the room, only he uttered the confession, “My Lord and My God!” We see in this lesson that a lasting faith is often a process that develops over time. Hopefully, we can all come to the place that Thomas did, confessing Jesus as “My Lord and My God.”
Finally, a faith that lasts and sustains us over time is one that fully trusts God’s presence in all circumstances. In the Acts lesson, Peter demonstrates such faith, when, even after being arrested and standing before the High Priest, he still boldly proclaims Jesus as the risen Messiah.
Last Thursday evening I participated in a very meaningful event organized by the Forest Lake Area Churches to pray for and show support for the families who have loved ones serving in the military, particularly those deployed overseas. A number of speakers talked about what it was like having a spouse or son or daughter away, in several cases serving in a war zone like Iraq or Afghanistan. One woman, Kelly Freudenberg, spoke about the pain of losing her son, who was killed in Iraq in 2005. We offered prayers for the families and the soldiers and the injured, as well as prayers that peace may soon come.
What struck me from the testimonies that people gave, was this deep, abiding faith by which they live. Kelly spoke eloquently about never wanting her son taken from her, but in the end knowing that he has truly gone home, to be with Jesus. Others spoke of living according to God’s will, and not their own. It’s a hard thing to do, to give up yourself and your loved ones to the Lord. But that’s faith, trusting that no matter what happens, God is present and God is love. A lasting faith yields fully to God, trusting God is always there.
Easter Sunday has come and gone. We really can’t duplicate last week’s experience. But that’s ok, because it’s daily faith that must sustain us. It is faith that comes by hearing the Word, more through the ears than they eyes. It is faith that matures over time. It is faith that yields fully to God. May you know this deep, abiding, lasting faith and may it lead you all of your days. Amen