[Propertalk] 2 Easter b 2018 - part 1 a

[Robert P Morrison]

Part one was rejected - and consigned to what I've found to be outer
darkness and neglect.
I've split part 1 into a and b.
Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY  2 EASTER b 

	ACTS 4:32-35    8th APRIL, 2018 

	1 JOHN 1;1 – 2;2   PSALM 133 

	JOHN 20:19-31 

	 “Without trust,” said the music director and the radio
commentator, “without trust, we have nothing. Civilisation is
gone.” 1 

	 THAT’S serious. REALLY serious. No trust, no civilization. 

	 Think about what it means to have what we call “civilization”,
though. It’s the art of not killing or even thinking about doing
harm to a neighbour, no matter how aggressive, or aggravating, or
obnoxious that person or these people are. More than that, though,
civilization is the product of what happens when you build up another
person emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. 

	 What results is a community that has faith not just in each of the
constituent members within it, but in those outside it, because each
challenges the other to grow, and to appreciate differences, and to
reach higher and farther than might be thought possible. So the
measure of civilization, or of culture, can be a measure of trust,
which is also of compassion and understanding. The measure of the
civilisation of any society or culture depends directly on the way in
which each individual within it strives to bless every other
individual, to allow each to be better, to allow their lives to be
richer, and more dignified, to be more trusted. 

	 Without dwelling too much on the negative, to refuse to participate
in blessing another; the refusal to enrich another; the refusal to
accord dignity and build up a feeling of self-worth; these are the
marks of a civilisation that is disintegration and imploding. 

	 If you think about it, it’s amazing that Christian faith has
spread to all the continents on earth. 

	 It began in what’s been described as a backwater country, good for
little but to act as a buffer or a pass-through between more
important, much more affluent nations. Perhaps THAT’S how Christian
faith spread. Someone picked it up and thought it worth considering
while travelling to other countries and staying there to work. 

	 But Christian faith began in such a shaky way. No matter how many
people were on the fringes of the crowd, the core group of disciples
was so disorganized, so shaken by Jesus’ arrest and death. The
disciples, it seemed, couldn’t agree on much until Jesus appeared
that Sunday evening. His Presence drew them together, perhaps in ways
that hadn’t even happened before He’d died. It was this sign of
Jesus’’ power over death that gave them the insight and courage
about life that they needed. 

	 More than that, though, Jesus’ resurrection and appearance with
them enabled them to behave so charitably towards Thomas. Or, at
least, it gave the reason to do so, even if they didn’t always
follow through. 

	 They could have tossed him out. They could have kept him from
learning more about Jesus, had they wished. But that would have led to
the diminishment of the civilization to which God had called them. 

	 Instead of rejecting Thomas with his incessant questioning and
concentration on physical evidence, they brought him closer to
themselves. They trusted him, even when it seemed they had so few
things on which to build. They trusted Thomas because they trusted
God, they trusted Jesus. 

	
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