{"id":898,"date":"2024-04-15T15:31:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T22:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/?p=898"},"modified":"2024-04-22T16:17:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T23:17:58","slug":"898","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/?p=898","title":{"rendered":"Easter Homely 2024 Connie Aurand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Homily for Easter 2 (B)\u00a0<\/strong>April 7, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Given by Connie Aurand<\/em><\/p>\n

Alleluia, Christ is Risen.\u00a0 The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

These words we say every Sunday during the season of Easter.\u00a0 What I ask myself and I will ask you to\u00a0 ponder, do you believe these words?\u00a0 And more importantly, do you share the message of the Good News and act on those words?\u00a0 If I am honest, there are times when I doubt or question whether I am secure enough, equipped enough to share Christ\u2019 message with another.\u00a0 If I was to meet Jesus on the road or sidewalk of my community, would I question and believe this is my Jesus who I profess to love and whose teachings I believe in?\u00a0 Or would I say nothing, and walk away.\u00a0 Would I be able to greet Christ without hesitation and with the words he uttered to his disciples, \u201cPeace be with you\u201d?<\/p>\n

This Sunday is referred to in many sermons and religious writings as the Thomas\u2019 Sunday of the Gospel or the Story of Doubting Thomas.\u00a0 In preparing for this service, I was reminded with the words said and written by learned people of the church, that Thomas was not with the others on Easter morning.\u00a0 I then asked myself,\u00a0 where was Thomas?\u00a0 I submit to you that it is very possible that Thomas was so overcome with the pain and loss of his beloved teacher and friend, Jesus,\u00a0 that he left his community for a time to grieve alone.\u00a0 I personally do not believe he ran away from his community of brothers and sisters in fear of the Romans, but that he was overcome with his personal grief and pain of this momentous loss, and thus missed out on this great revelation in our shared story.\u00a0 Although Thomas missed out on that living experience of receiving \u201cPeace\u201d from his beloved teacher and friend the first time, he nevertheless returned to his community so that the disciples could grieve together, to only hear the shared experiences of his fellow disciples and their telling of having Jesus in the flesh with them.\u00a0 Their commentary of experiences was not enough to convince Thomas who wanted to believe \u2013 he was ready and needed to believe.\u00a0 Thomas I believe was hurt and felt left out and alone not having been given the same opportunity as his brothers to see Christ once more.\u00a0\u00a0 After all, his fellow disciples had been first hand witnesses to Jesus\u2019 appearance.\u00a0 They had received the \u201cPeace\u201d\u00a0 and his spirit and had been sent by Christ to continue his work in the world.\u00a0 Thomas had not.\u00a0 These disciples had an opportunity to begin that work sharing the \u201cgood news\u201d with their brother, Thomas on his return.\u00a0\u00a0 However, it did not happen the way in which they thought Thomas would react.\u00a0 Thomas\u2019 community simply failed to convince Thomas.\u00a0 I would suggest these disciples are us.\u00a0 As the Rev. James Liggett, a retired Episcopal priest from Texas shared in one of his sermons on Thomas, it feels better to call Thomas \u201cdoubting\u201d than to call the disciples, or ourselves\u2014unconvincing\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A week later, this community with Thomas would be given another opportunity to observe, learn and be there for one another, to watch Jesus once again appear saying \u201cPeace be with you.\u201d\u00a0 Although, Thomas seemed to question Christ living presence, his loving teacher and friend reassured Thomas he needn\u2019t be afraid to question, but believe what Jesus had shared.\u00a0 \u201cBlessed are those who have not seen and yet have come <\/strong>to believe.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Well, the Good News for us, including Thomas, the band of disciples and for us, the Church\u2014Christ is risen<\/strong> and he comes to all of us even as we huddle in fear behind closed or locked doors.\u00a0 We are invited over and over to try again\u2014to share the good news, because we are never alone.\u00a0 Jesus speaks for us, with us and to his world through the bread and wine and his words of forgiveness and peace.\u00a0 We share the words of the living Christ every time we gather\u2014\u201cMay the peace of the Lord be with You and we respond,\u00a0 and also with you.\u201d\u00a0 In those brief moments, we are sharing the living Christ\u2019 message of \u201cPeace\u201d in our little part of the world with one another.\u00a0\u00a0 We need not be afraid to fail to bring the good news to others or remain rooted in a state of despair, because like Thomas and his fellow disciples, we are given another invitation to \u201ctry again\u201d even when it may be difficult or appear to be risky.\u00a0 Thomas must have known this because he did not remain away from the disciples alone, he wanted to be with his beloved community.\u00a0 He came back maybe questioning his place in the community or what was to come, but on this second visit, he did receive from Christ\u00a0 the message of Peace\u2014and the commission \u201cAs the Father has sent me, so I send you.\u201d The important message for me and I share with you today is\u00a0 \u201cshow up,\u00a0 remain open to learning, sharing, and loving one another,\u00a0 we are being called together\u2014<\/strong>in community- to struggle on\u2014sharing the good news,\u00a0 because whether we try and fail, or attempt to keep the door closed, Christ is in our midst!\u00a0 He will show up for us and our Jesus will continue to be found among us.\u00a0 Will we be there to greet Christ and one another and offer the words Christ shared with Thomas and the disciples, \u201cPeace be with You\u201d.<\/p>\n

Let us together proclaim mightily,\u00a0 Alleluia Christ is Risen.\u00a0 The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homily for Easter 2 (B)\u00a0April 7, 2024 Given by Connie Aurand Alleluia, Christ is Risen.\u00a0 The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia! These words we say every Sunday during the season of Easter.\u00a0 What I ask myself and I will ask<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=898"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":922,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions\/922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithpoulsbo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}