Call to Worship
Good morning friends. I am __________ and I am an Elder here at Azle Christian Church. To those here in the sanctuary and those joining us online: we are so glad you’re here!
This morning, we will sing songs of worship, pray together, hear from scripture and one another, as we move toward the pinnacle of our service: the table of our Lord, where we will take the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of our most Gracious Host, Jesus. The purpose of our time together each Sunday is to bring our hearts closer to the heart of God, so I invite you to participate in as much or as little in our prepared liturgy as your spirit is willing.
We welcome all the sounds and smells from the youngest to the oldest among us. There is a Kids Corner in the back for anyone who needs to move around and play to worship God this morning. There is also a nursery available. We know that the energy and spirit of children can be different than adults and we consider that a welcome gift.
There are information cards in the pew in front of you—if you are a guest, or if you have moved and have not updated your info with the church, please fill it out and drop it in the offering plate when it goes by later in worship.
For those watching online or for those who would like to follow along, our liturgy for every service is posted on our website before the service begins.
Sunday School is at 10 AM each week. We have two adult classes—one in the parlor, and one in the seekers’ room. We have an older kids class that meets in the MUB, and a younger elementary class that meets behind the sanctuary.
ACC prayer group meets on Thursday mornings at 10am in the Seekers room.
We have a Ukulele group that meets in the MUB at 6:30 on Tuesdays. Beginners welcome!
This Wednesday we will have a board meeting on zoom at 7pm
You are cordially invited to our Mother’s Day Tea. Please see the insert in your bulletin or see Sheila for more information about how to RSVP.
If you or someone you know would like to receive home communion, please call the church office or you can comment below in the livestream.
You can find all this information in your weekly eblast, on Facebook, in the insert in your bulletin, and on our calendar on our website. If you have an event with no graphic please contact Emerson or see him after the service.
It is still Easter, for real! Our Guest preacher this morning is Rev. Todd Pick. He is graciously joining us from Revive UMC. Thank you for being here.
Let’s pray to turn our hearts toward God for this hour.
Spirit of truth, open to us the scriptures, speaking your holy word through song, through the bread and cup, and through offering ourselves, and meet us here today in the living Christ. Amen.
Litany of Faith
One: When we look into the face of each one gathered here:
All: Christ is alive among us
When we speak a word of peace into a frightened world:
All: Christ is alive among us.
One: When we are empowered by the breath of Life, When we are called and sent in the name of love:
One: Christ is alive among us! Alleluia! Amen!
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
Life-giving God,
We give you thanks because Jesus has risen.
And He comes to us with words of peace and wounded hands.
Risen and wounded Christ,
Come to us today.
In government rooms where politicians make decisions about our lives
In hospital rooms where people are waiting,
In prison cells where people are afraid
In homes where people struggle to make ends meet,
Come with words of peace and wounded hands.
You have gone before us.
Come to us whenever we are afraid
Whenever we are grieving
Come to us now as we pray in silence
For those we care for and are worried about…
How strangely comforting,
That so many of your disciples
Have doubted you.
So, if we cannot always make sense of your Word;
If we do not always feel confident
About our faith;
If we wonder where your love is
In the face of pain and death;
We are not the first.
You were also wounded by this world.
We are like Thomas with our questions and our doubts.
We sometimes need to see and feel in order to believe,
we need you in order to have faith.
We too need the peace you bring because our world is fraught with violence, and unrest.
May the doors of our churches be open and doubters be welcome here.
With our own wounded hearts and hands we ask this in the name of our brother and redeemer Jesus, who taught us to pray…
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.
John 20:19-31
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin[a]), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue[b] to believe that Jesus is the Messiah,[c] the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Sermon
Our 8-year-old son has always been a child full of questions.
Without fail, every morning begins with: “What’s for breakfast?”
And every night ends with: “Who’s going to read to me?”
And even though there’s a limited number of options,
and even though he gets to choose what he’ll eat and
who will read to him, he asks anyway.
And so, as part of our routine,
I tease him with lots of ridiculous suggestions.
For breakfast, I might suggest pickle and broccoli pancakes.
For bedtime, I might suggest that it’s Ginger, our trusty dog,
who will take a turn reading to him.
And while he announces with great displeasure that I am, in fact,
teasing him, he will eventually ask:
“What’s for breakfast, for real this time, Daddy?”
“Who will read to me, for real. I want to know for real.”
On that first Easter, Jesus appeared to Mary in the garden.
And when he called her by name, she tried to hold on to him,
as if to see if he was with her “for real.”
She ran to the disciples with the good news: “I have seen the Lord!”
Behind locked doors,
the disciples want to know “for real” if this could be true.
That same evening, Jesus’ appeared to them, offering them peace.
He breathed on them, offering them the Holy Spirit,
commissioning them to be about the work of forgiveness.
But one disciple was missing. Poor Thomas.
You almost wonder why he wasn’t behind the same locked doors
with his friends at night.
Was he sent out as the designated shopper of the group?
Was he scouting the city to see if it was safe enough for them
to make a getaway?
The Scripture doesn’t say.
But upon his return, the disciples announce to him:
“We have seen the Lord.”
Thomas is doubtful.
He wants to see for himself what the others have witnessed, “for real.”
Because after all: ‘seeing is believing.’
Jesus appeared to Mary and made sure she saw him.
Jesus appeared to the disciples and made sure they saw him.
But when we come to Thomas, suffering from a deep grief,
he hastily says: “Unless I see the marks of the nails,
2
and put my hands in the scars on his side, I will not believe.”
In all honesty, I don’t think that Thomas was any less faithful
than the other disciples.
I think it’s more that he just wanted to be included in
their experience of the risen Christ.
But poor Thomas has to sit and stew and
wonder and wrestle for a full 7 days.
After 7 days of doubt and disbelief,
7 days of longing for the embrace of his beloved friend,
7 days of fear and isolation,
the risen Christ once more enters the same locked room and
stands before his friends.
And this time, Thomas is there.
“Peace be with you,” Jesus says once more.
And he invites Thomas to put his finger in his scars saying,
“Do not doubt but believe.”
It’s as if he’s saying: “See for real that it is really me.”
And in the next breath Thomas exclaims:
“My Lord and my God.”
But there’s still more to this story of rising again.
“Happy are those who do not see but believe,” says Jesus…
and the very next verse reads:
“Now Jesus did many other signs and wonders in the presence
of his disciples which are not recorded in this book.”
Signs and wonders which people saw and then believed.
What’s true to our story is that the risen Christ keeps showing up—
meeting us where we are for real,
reassuring us in our darkest night, for real,
offering us a peace that’s more real than despair;
filling us with a hope that’s more real than fear.
. . . . .
Over the years, Thomas has gotten a bad reputation.
We’ve nicknamed him: “The Doubter.”
When I think about doubt,
I don’t think of doubt as the opposite of faith.
Because in my mind,
doubt and faith are like two sides of the same coin.
In fact, doubt can keep us from
believing in anything and everything, or nothing at all.
I don’t see doubt as the end of faith, but rather a new beginning.
And the story of resurrection—the story of Easter—
isn’t about a happy ending which negates suffering and death
and wipes away all our human fears and doubts.
Easter is about a God who walks with us, stands with us,
suffers with us, cries with us,
and even walks through death with us to bring us eternal life.
3
Poor Thomas has gotten a bad rap as “The Doubter” but
the scripture tells us that he already has a nickname:
“The Twin.”
As I think about this today, I can’t help but think that
Thomas is a mirror for us, for our own longings,
for our own search for what is true and real.
I find that Thomas might, in fact, be my twin.
Thomas desires the touch of the Risen Christ.
He longs to see tangible evidence that love is stronger than death.
He believes in the Word made flesh.
He sees nothing reasonable about an empty tomb and
lingers for days in the grief and the
NOT knowing of how the story ends.
And the good news is that Jesus meets us where we are.
The good news is that Christ shows up in our deepest darkness,
our deepest sadness, our deepest longing.
The good news is that Christ promises to walk with us,
to strengthen us, to sustain us, to forgive us, to challenge us,
and to help us rise.
. . . . . .
In that locked upper room,
Jesus appeared to the disciples and didn’t stay long.
But he left a parting gift:
the blessing of peace and the promise of the Holy Spirit.
And he didn’t just give it to them, but breathed the Spirit into them.
In the Gospel of John, this is the day of Pentecost!
And the Spirit doesn’t come with wind and flame,
but with Jesus’s own breath!
The One raised from the dead tells them to
go out and to BE peace and forgiveness and love for the world.
Jesus sends them—and us—into the world that God loves so lavishly
and abundantly to BE signs of new life;
to breathe new life into a weary world
. . . . .
Considering the whole story,
we come to realize that God doesn’t call us to believe blindly.
But rather, we are called to look at the world with new eyes;
with eyes that look for, search for,
recognize and see resurrection and new life ALL around us.
The risen Christ calls us to love the world in every possible way—
to love the world as God does.
We are called to use our hands in service to God and each another.
We’re called to give our hearts away so that others might
catch a glimpse of a love that’s bigger than we are.
4
Because for some people
the risen Christ within US is the only Jesus they will ever meet.
We did not stand at the empty tomb.
We did not see the risen Savior.
We didn’t touch his hands or side.
But we DO have Thomas’s confession: “My Lord and my God.”
We live in knowledge that Christ meets us where we are with
whatever needs we have. And this is how our faith is sustained.
And we, who know the Way and the Truth and the Life,
are to now go and make Christ real for others
until they know love and light, “for real.”
Until others know it’s still Easter… for real!
Sharing Our Resources
There are many ways to support and resource the ministries of Azle Christian Church. You can give online on our website, on Venmo, or in the offering plate as the deacons come by during our final song. You can also put in a prayer request card or information card in the plate.
Benediction:
Please rise in body or spirit for our benediction, the final song, and the Doxology.
Receive this blessing: