[Propertalk] Sermon preached on Facebook live video: Faith for a Time like This

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-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sun, Apr 19, 2020 7:04 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon preached on Facebook live video: Faith for a Time like This

Dear Friends, The name of Sunday’s sermon is “Faithfor a Time like This.”  It is based on allthe lessons.  Here it is. What a fascinating story aboutfaith we heard in this gospel about Thomas! Actually, all the Bible lessons areabout faith one way or another. And all of them are about having faith indifficult times. Did you hear the story about the husband with foot-in-mouthdisease?  A husband and wife are gettingready for bed. The wife is standing in front of a full-length mirror taking ahard look at herself. “You know love,” she says, “I look in the mirror and Isee an old woman. My face is all wrinkled, my stomach is sticking out in frontand my butt is hanging out behind. I've got fat legs and my arms are allflabby.”  She turns to her husband andsays, “Tell me something positive to make me feel better about myself.”  He thinks about it for a bit and then says ina soft voice, “Well...your   eyesight’sstill pretty good!” Noah (Old Testament reading), the church to whom Peterwas writing (epistle), and Thomas (gospel) would all have been able tounderstand where that couple were coming from, because all of them knew abouthard times and how faith during these times will carry us through. Let’s look at Noah’s situationfirst. Some years ago when I was into embroidery, I stitched a picture of Noahand the ark.  The caption on thestitchery read: “Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”Actually, that’s a huge understatement, because it wasn’t at all likely it wasever going to seriously rain WHERE Noah built the ark- because it was a desert(or at least a simi-desert) area. You know the story. God told Noah to build anark. He obeys and loads the animals up just as he was told- to the jeering rudelaughter of his neighbors. When we pick up the story, we find the significanceof Noah’s obedience. He has saved every species from extinction. Even more important,the rainbow in the sky signifies God’s bow (his weapon- i.e. bow and arrow)hung on the wall- his weapon put away. When God promises he will never againdestroy life by water, since water is a symbol for chaos, he is promising chaoswill never wipe out life on this planet. What a promise, and all possiblebecause of Noah’s faith and willingness to obey in hard times. What does allthis have to do with you in the middle of COVID-19? Noah didn’t let hisneighbors’ nastiness change him.  Sacrifice!  Do the loving thing, not your thing. PLEASEdon’t COVID-19 change you. Then there was Peter and thechurch to whom he was writing. They were under huge Roman persecution- probablythe same persecution that later caused the execution of Peter and Paul. The churchwas under intense temptation to give up the faith. Family members were beingtortured, thrown to lions, burned at the stake, and God only knows what elseevil humanity could think up. They were also having to work out the solutionsto hideous questions. What should they do with church members (or even familymembers) who had chickened out during torture and betrayed family members, whowere then executed? What about those who had worshipped the emperor because offear, while others died refusing to bow the knee to anyone but Jesus, the Christ?To make matters worse, many of these people wanted back in the family or intothe fellowship. Should they be forgiven? How could they ever stand to see themagain? Peter reminded them to stick with it. God will win and we shallovercome.  How does that speak to us inour time?  Many of us are tired of beingstuck in four walls and we’re getting on each other’s nerves.  FORGIVE and THINK!  (True? Helpful? Important? Necessary &Now? Kind & loving?) Finally, we have Thomas. WhenLazarus was so ill, Thomas was the one who convinced the disciples to accompanyJesus to the Jerusalem area, even though their lives were in danger the lasttime they went. Thomas was also the one who had the courage to challenge Jesuswhen he said, “I am going to prepare a place for you, you know where I amgoing, and you know the way.” Remember- Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t even knowwhere you are going. How can we know the way?” It was this question that gaveJesus the marvelous opportunity to make his earth-shaking statement: “I am theWay; I am the Truth; and I am the Life. No one comes to the father exceptthrough me.” After all this, Thomas was missing on the evening of theresurrection when the other disciples encountered the risen Lord. When theytold him about Jesus’ resurrection, he wouldn’t believe unless he touched thescars. The next Sunday, when they were all gathered again for Holy Communion-there was Jesus confronting Thomas with what he said. Thomas went fromdisbelief to supreme faith and stated the church’s first creedal statement- “MyLord and my God!” Maybe you are like Thomas. Yourheart breaks as you watch good people suffer- with all the pain and sicknessand death and disruption and chaos of this novel coronavirus. Or perhaps you arewondering why God allows this terrible COVID-19 in the first place.  You (like Thomas) look at the mess and say, “Chaosreigns.  God, where are you? Why do youallow such terrible things to happen?” And God answers- “DON’T BLAME ME!  My precious, precious child. You only use asmall portion of the resources I give you! I send you children who could grow up to be physicians and scientists whocould find ways to plan ahead and create vaccines to prevent these terriblepandemics before they even start.  I sendyou children who could develop medicine that would heal this and many terribleillnesses and you don’t nurture them, don’t educate them, and they end up inprison or dead before their time. I send you prophets and diplomats andnegotiators and leaders and yet you continue to glorify violence in your mediaand make decisions from greed and arrogance. You asked me why I allow suchthings- strange. I was going to ask you the same question.” Please stay faithful. For anyone who is interested, thissermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’sweb site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org . Blessed preaching,Judy BoliSt. Paul's Episcopal ChurchSaginaw, Michigan-- 
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