Theological Status: COMPROMISED (Worldly/Sloppy)
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Pergamum
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
The Compromised Parallel
Pergamum
Teaching that parallels churches tolerating the "doctrine of Balaam" through cultural accommodation (Rev 2:14), characterized by weak boundaries, sloppy theology, and worldly compromise.
Why strictly "Mark & Avoid"?
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
🧐 Overview
Theological Verdict & Summary
Sermon Summary: In a world defined by anxiety and environmental crisis, this sermon invites believers to find healing in the wounds of the resurrected Christ, challenging the congregation to practice mindful attention to creation and community as an act of spiritual presence.
Pastoral Analysis: The sermon offers a compassionate pastoral response to congregational anxiety, validating doubt and encouraging environmental stewardship. However, it is significantly compromised by the introduction of secular mindfulness techniques as spiritual disciplines, a pantheistic-adjacent view of God's presence in nature, and a failure to anchor these applications in the Gospel of grace, resulting in a moralistic rather than redemptive message.
Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon exhibits significant theological compromise through the integration of secular contemplative practices and a pantheistic-adjacent view of divine presence, alongside a failure to maintain pulpit decorum. While it retains a nominal connection to the Gospel, the reliance on subjective experience and moralistic application over objective grace places it in a compromised state.
Big Idea: The resurrected Jesus offers a peace that transcends worldly anxiety and addresses human doubt, commissioning believers to practice mindful, loving attention to creation and community as an act of spiritual presence. [00:34:09 ▶️ 📄]
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: John 20:19-31
- Usage Classification: Thematic
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: High
- Pulpit Decorum: ❌ FAIL - The pastor used derogatory slang ('vegan-gelicals') to mock environmental activists, violating standards of respectful speech.
✝️ Christological Focus: Moralistic/Imitative
"Christ is presented primarily as the source of peace to be imitated and the wounds to be observed, rather than the active agent of salvation whose work is applied by the Spirit."
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 13 | Referenced: 3 | Alluded: 2
📖 View 1 Passages Read Aloud
-
John 20:19-31
[00:31:48 ▶️ 📄]
"When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. And then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. But Thomas, who was called the twin, One of the twelve was not with them when Jesus came, and so the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord. But Thomas said to them, Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger in the mark of the nails, and my hand up into his side, I will not believe. A week later, the disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came, stood among them, and said, Peace be with you. And then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt, but believe. Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have come to believe."
Key References: John 14:27, John 20:19-23, Luke 23:46
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 3,620 words
📌 View 11 Key Topics Addressed
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Divine Peace vs. Worldly Peace
[00:39:15 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor contrasts the 'fire hose of bad news' and worldly anxiety with the 'different kind of peace' Jesus gives, which is an affirmation of God's presence and the resurrection. -
Liturgical Practice (Passing the Peace)
[00:37:14 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor addresses the congregation's initial resistance to the 'Passing of the Peace,' reframing it from an awkward social obligation to a profound liturgical act of community and forgiveness. -
Doubt and Faith
[00:42:43 ▶️ 📄]
> Using the example of Thomas, the pastor argues that doubt is not the absence of faith but a necessary part of its growth, quoting Frederick Buechner to describe doubt as what keeps faith 'awake and moving.' -
Community and Skepticism
[00:43:44 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor warns against weaponized skepticism that destroys community, contrasting it with Thomas, who doubted but remained within the community of believers. -
Doubt and Faith
[00:42:00 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues that doubt is not the absence of faith but a mechanism that keeps faith 'awake and moving,' citing Thomas as a patron saint for questioning within community. -
Creation Care
[00:46:08 ▶️ 📄]
> The sermon transitions to Creation Care Sunday, framing environmental stewardship as a theologically correct act of recognizing God's fingerprints in nature, rather than mere activism. -
Spiritual Attention (Glancing, Glaring, Gazing)
[00:54:41 ▶️ 📄]
> Using Richard Rohr's framework, the pastor contrasts being overwhelmed by the future (glancing) and stuck in the past (glaring) with 'gazing,' a deep, present-moment attention that is an act of love and prayer. -
Spiritual Practice of Gazing
[00:56:53 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor defines 'gazing' as looking at the world with deep attention and presence, contrasting it with 'glaring' (past) and 'glancing' (future), and frames it as a way to stay in the present moment with the divine. -
Attention as Love
[00:57:35 ▶️ 📄]
> Citing Marge Piercy, the pastor equates attention with love, explaining that giving attention to family, pets, and plants is how we show love, and that we must either bless or improve what we cannot bless. -
Creation and Wonder
[00:58:07 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor encourages stepping outside to observe creation, marveling at details like leaves and the cosmos, to cultivate wonder and awareness of how creation works together. -
Interconnectedness and Divine Presence
[00:58:50 ▶️ 📄]
> Using the scientific fact that we share breath molecules with all humans who have ever lived, the pastor illustrates our physical interconnectedness and suggests that breathing deeply allows us to receive the blessing and peace of the resurrected Christ.
🖼️ View 8 Illustrations & Stories
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Sermon Illustration
[00:34:21 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts the awkwardness of the disciples encountering the resurrected Jesus behind locked doors, noting they were too overwhelmed by grief and fear to register the greeting 'Peace be with you' until they saw his wounds. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:37:14 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal anecdote about teaching the 10 o'clock service at Ardmore Church how to 'pass the peace,' noting their initial resistance, fear of greeting one another, and eventual acceptance of the practice. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:40:51 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor describes a humorous incident at a previous church where introverted congregants fled to the balcony to avoid hugs during the passing of the peace, illustrating the social anxiety surrounding the liturgy. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:42:58 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor references Frederick Buechner's quote that 'doubts are the ants in the pants of faith,' using it to validate the congregation's questions and skepticism as healthy parts of spiritual development. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:48:45 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a humorous anecdote about his friend Matthew Bacon asking if he would compare Jesus' nail holes to the hole in the ozone layer, and a joke about a 'Cool Prius' bumper sticker to illustrate the danger of self-righteousness in environmentalism. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:44:00 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts the biblical narrative of Thomas doubting Jesus' resurrection, noting that Jesus confronted Thomas with his wounds, leading Thomas to a profession of faith while remaining in community. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:51:20 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor explains the theological significance of Jesus breathing on the disciples in John 20, contrasting it with Jesus breathing his last on Good Friday, to illustrate the commission to go and share peace. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:56:34 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor uses the analogy of distinguishing between 'glaring' (at the past), 'glancing' (at the future), and 'gazing' (sustained attention in the present). He also references Marge Piercy's poem stating 'attention is love' and the instruction to 'pick up a shovel' to make things better if they cannot be blessed. Finally, he illustrates interconnectedness by noting that the air we breathe contains molecules from every human who has ever lived, including Hitler and Jesus, suggesting this shared breath is a conduit for Christ's blessing.
🚀 View 3 Calls to Action
-
Pastoral Charge
[00:43:16 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor implicitly calls the congregation to embrace a culture of questioning and open discussion, validating Thomas as a patron saint for those with doubts. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:53:59 ▶️ 📄]
> Join the creation care team and engage in compassionate stewardship of the earth. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:58:03 ▶️ 📄]
> Stop current activities, go outside, take a deep breath, and observe creation with wonder.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Compromised / Weak
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Presentation | ❌ FAIL | The Gospel Engine is compromised. The sermon relies on behavioral commands and self-help mindfulness practices without explicitly mentioning the Holy Spirit or Gospel grace for salvation, resulting in a moralistic application that bypasses the necessity of union with Christ. |
| Soteriology | ⚠️ WEAK | The sermon lacks a clear presentation of salvation by grace through faith, instead focusing on human effort in mindfulness and moral improvement. |
| Bibliology | ⚠️ WEAK | The sermon substitutes the objective revelation of Scripture with subjective intuitive experience and secular philosophical concepts. |
| Hermeneutic | ⚠️ WEAK | The text is interpreted through the lens of modern psychological and environmental frameworks rather than letting the text dictate the theological application. |
| Theology Proper | ⚠️ WEAK | The description of God's presence as an accidental, universally diffused atmospheric reality borders on pantheism, blurring the distinction between Creator and creation. |
| Sacramentology | ✅ PASS | No sacramental errors were detected in the provided reports. |
| Confessional Depth | ❌ SHALLOW | The sermon relies heavily on contemporary poetry, secular mindfulness, and personal anecdotes, lacking deep engagement with historic Christian doctrine or the specific mechanics of redemption. |
⚙️ The Core Gospel Framework
What is this? This section checks if the sermon contains the essential building blocks of the Gospel. We look for explicit, substantive mentions of God's holy standard, human inability, and Christ's finished work on the cross.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
❌ The Law And Wrath: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Total Depravity And Inability: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Active Obedience Of Christ: Not observed in the sermon.
✅ The Cross And Atonement:
"It was only when Jesus showed his wounds that they woke out of their stupor." [00:34:59 ▶️ 📄]
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🟠 Major Contemplative Mysticism & Naturalistic Spirituality
Root Cause: Quietism / Subjectivism
"He uses this as a practice for spirituality. In the very present moment, to try to stay right there where you are, not to go far ahead, not to look back, and to be aware of the presence, with a big capital P, of the divine, or at least another person." [00:57:15 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: This approach bypasses the objective revelation of Scripture and the ordained means of grace in favor of subjective, intuitive experience.
Why It's Dangerous: This substitutes biblical faith with a quietistic mental discipline that seeks divine encounter through passive attention rather than active reliance on Christ's finished work, leading to subjectivism and the loss of cognitive truth.
Biblical Correction: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
🟠 Major Universal Diffusion of Grace & Pantheistic Implications
Root Cause: Pantheism / Universalism
"And maybe while you're doing that, by accident, you can receive a blessing from the resurrected Jesus because Jesus is out there breathing on all of us." [00:58:38 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: This portrays divine blessing as an accidental, universally diffused atmospheric reality accessible through natural observation, denying the particularity of redemptive grace.
Why It's Dangerous: This pantheistic-adjacent view incorrectly identifies the divine presence with a universal life force pervading nature, blurring the distinction between Creator and creation and contradicting the biblical testimony of God's sovereignty.
Biblical Correction: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
🟠 Major Pulpit Decorum Violation
Root Cause: Lack of Charitable Speech
"I know a lot of tree-hugging vegan-gelicals out there, okay?" [00:50:17 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: The pastor employs a derogatory, coined slang term to mock a specific group.
Why It's Dangerous: This violates the biblical command for speech to be gracious and edifying, undermining the pastor's authority and creating division rather than unity.
Biblical Correction: Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Colossians 4:6)
🟠 Major Homiletical Imbalance (Moralism)
Root Cause: Moralism / Pelagian Tendencies
The Belief/Behavior: The sermon fails to explicitly mention the Holy Spirit or Gospel grace for salvation, focusing instead on human effort.
Why It's Dangerous: This results in a moralistic application that bypasses the necessity of union with Christ, leading listeners to believe spiritual growth is achieved through human mindfulness rather than God's monergistic work.
Biblical Correction: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
🟡 Minor Elevation of Skepticism & Doubt
Root Cause: Subjectivism
"Doubt is not the absence of faith, but part of the process of growing our faith." [00:42:43 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: While pastorally intended, this elevates doubt to a necessary component of faith growth, risking the normalization of unbelief.
Why It's Dangerous: This distorts the biblical call to steadfast belief and may undermine the Reformed doctrine of assurance, which grounds faith in objective promises rather than subjective questioning.
Biblical Correction: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
✅ Commendations
Pastoral Care | Validating Congregational Anxiety
The pastor effectively identified and named the congregation's current state of anxiety regarding news, economy, and personal struggles, creating a space for empathy.
Theological Insight | Reframing Doubt as Faith's Companion
The use of Frederick Buechner's quote to validate doubt as a healthy part of spiritual development offers a compassionate alternative to shame-based faith.
Missional Application | Creation Care as Spiritual Practice
The call to view environmental stewardship not as virtue signaling but as an act of spiritual presence and prayer is a strong, relevant application for the modern church.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:00:00] Good morning, you guys. Happy Sunday. Thanks for being here. Thanks for not being in there eating cookies during worship.
[00:00:07] There's a place for you in heaven. Stand as you're able and sing some songs for us.
[00:00:48] Peace of Christ be with y'all. And also with you. Y'all take a moment to pass the peace.
[00:04:29] Go grab a seat. Now it's time for announcements. Good morning, friends. I welcome all of you to
[00:09:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:09:45] to this Creation Care service of worship today.
[00:09:48] There are people joining us, our service via live stream, and we hope this service is meaningful to all of you at home.
[00:09:55] Now, if you are visiting in person today, thank you for coming.
[00:09:58] In the pockets on the back of the chairs, not in the pews, you have a visitor card.
[00:10:06] They are easy to fill out, and if you want, you can even fill them out online by following the QR code.
[00:10:12] We would love to know you are here and perhaps be in touch with you.
[00:10:16] If you have been visiting with us, you can attend a gathering called the Next Steps Meeting this Wednesday at 5.30 on April 22nd.
[00:10:25] The information for that is in the bulletin.
[00:10:28] Let Pastor Kelly know you are interested or call the church office.
[00:10:33] Today is the second meeting of Poor Theology Part Deux.
[00:10:39] That's P-O-U-R, and it's a project of taking church beyond the walls of this building.
[00:10:45] Today we'll feature the music of Jerry Chapman and company and a guest from the non-profit Faith Action International.
[00:10:55] Poor Theology will meet this afternoon at 3.30 at Footnotes downtown, and we'd love to have you join us.
[00:11:01] Next week, we have a few people going to join the Forsyth Jail and Prison Ministry for their weekly worship service at the Cherry Street Prison.
[00:11:09] If you would like to join them, you will need to be in contact with Dawn Egan today.
[00:11:14] Her information is in the bulletin, or you can see her at the reception between the services, which already happened.
[00:11:20] Never mind.
[00:11:23] Some of you were able to attend the creation care reception before the service.
[00:11:28] Stephanie Rehm is here to share a little about the creation care team.
[00:11:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:11:33] Hi.
[00:11:34] Thank you for allowing me a few minutes to talk about our creation care team.
[00:11:37] It's headed by Dawn Lewis, who usually attends the service.
[00:11:40] We are a group of people that care deeply about creation and taking care of the earth and being good stewards and we have a little bit of fun along the way We've been active for about two years
[00:11:52] Our first project was the butterfly garden in the entrance of the Through the Week school and last year we planted milkweed to help migrating monarch butterflies as they come through Apparently we're in the butterfly hospitality business too
[00:12:10] Dick and Nancy Smith were originally planted that garden and we enjoyed bringing it back to life and to support these important pollinators you may also remember our Buy the Bulb campaign last fall as a part of an energy audit by Duke Energy
[00:12:27] we learned that switching from fluorescent to LED lights could really be a good way of saving energy and reducing costs to the church and being good stewards Thanks to your generosity, we earned about $4,000,
[00:12:41] and we've updated most of the church's lighting.
[00:12:44] Just the sanctuary is left on our to-do list.
[00:12:47] It's a bigger project, but it's expected to save about $5,000 per year.
[00:12:53] We are also working on reducing plastics in our kitchen area, and we started a composting program.
[00:13:01] Even small changes can add up, And we have a fantastic triple threat team, Nick and Jill Daly and Ashley back in our booth, have our sound video professional, have put together a short but super helpful video on
[00:13:15] composting, what can and can't be composted. So make sure you take a look at that. It's coming soon to our church website. And looking ahead, we are very excited to apply this summer for a
[00:13:26] green church initiative through the North Carolina Conference. It's a great opportunity to grow as we care for our creation and the world around us and to be a leader in stewardship in our community. So we'll definitely keep you posted. If this
[00:13:40] sparks your interest, we'd love to have you join us. We usually meet on the last Thursday of every month. This week we will not meet. This month we will not meet. But if you have any ideas, I'm going to pass
[00:13:52] around some post-it notes, one on each side. You can write down some ideas and I'll be here at the end of the service if you want to talk with me further.
[00:14:02] Thank you.
[00:14:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:14:07] Hey, can I use your music, Sam?
[00:14:13] Oh, good.
[00:14:14] I have a song to sing.
[00:14:17] I'll sing along with you.
[00:14:19] Good morning.
[00:14:24] It's good to see everybody today.
[00:14:26] Today is Creation Care Sunday, and so I want to remember that.
[00:14:32] This coming week is Earth Day.
[00:14:34] And by the way, Jerry is today at 3 o'clock.
[00:14:38] He's going to actually sing Earth songs, some of them that you already know.
[00:14:44] Are they supposed to be pro-Earth?
[00:14:46] Pro-Earth would be good.
[00:14:48] Yeah.
[00:14:48] that'd be good like birthday songs or something like that yeah um yeah we yeah we should have planned that a little better um do you all have some prayer concerns that you might want to share
[00:15:01] today before we go for a time of prayer yes what's his uh name again sawyer uh your grandson is headed for surgery to is did you say raleigh charlotte excuse me i just knew it was far away um so yeah
[00:15:32] So let's pray for Sawyer there.
[00:15:39] And his mom and dad.
[00:15:41] And his grandparents.
[00:15:43] Not that you're all having surgery, but I know I got you.
[00:15:50] Others?
[00:15:55] Wow, everybody's doing good.
[00:15:59] Hey, I just saw you.
[00:16:01] Good to see you, Gene.
[00:16:04] Any others?
[00:16:05] Other prayer concerns?
[00:16:06] Yeah.
[00:16:13] Uh-oh.
[00:16:14] Yeah, and he is...
[00:16:20] Now, Gail, tell me, how do you know this pastor?
[00:16:37] Well, his wife.
[00:16:40] Okay, I see, yeah.
[00:16:41] And we have their son.
[00:16:43] And local?
[00:16:45] Not anymore.
[00:16:46] They're in Charleston.
[00:16:47] In Charleston, okay.
[00:16:49] Yeah.
[00:16:49] So, yeah, retired Methodist minister is really a friend of Gail's that's really struggling with some mental health issues is in the hospital.
[00:16:58] So let's keep him in our prayers.
[00:17:02] Others?
[00:17:05] Yeah, Jean.
[00:17:07] So your son and daughter-in-law have a friend named Cole.
[00:17:34] Cole. And Cole was in a plane accident.
[00:17:38] Yeah, okay. Let's keep him in our prayers. That's tough.
[00:17:44] Yeah. Any others?
[00:17:49] Well, friends, I don't know about you, but as the war carries on and trying to figure out exactly what's going on there, that is of great concern.
[00:17:58] I know it very much haunts us a little bit about information and the lack thereof.
[00:18:05] and so let's keep all of our soldiers and all the people in every country that is affected by this conflict and pray for some sanity around all of that.
[00:18:19] Any others?
[00:18:20] Yes.
[00:18:23] Brett.
[00:18:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:18:47] Right.
[00:19:02] Yeah.
[00:19:40] Right.
[00:19:48] Yeah.
[00:19:49] Yes.
[00:20:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:20:00] Yes, indeed.
[00:20:01] It's good preaching, by the way.
[00:20:02] That's good preaching.
[00:20:04] Yeah.
[00:20:05] no Brett I appreciate you saying that it's been a difficult week where we've heard some just horrible theological things spoken into microphones but people that really have no sense about it and you know whenever you hear about
[00:20:21] God taking sides or God rewarding us because we're righteous you've got we all have to remember Jesus is teaching on that that the rain falls and the sun shines and the good and the bad alike
[00:20:35] and that uh we're all god's favorite so uh and we have to remember that and and really underscore that and not try to get god on our side for whatever political reason and so i think that
[00:20:49] um that's that's really important i appreciate you saying that though yeah good all right well now we got to pray so um come on up here jerry we're gonna work jerry so hard today gosh um
[00:21:05] and let's center ourselves and Jerry will give us a little music to help us take a nice, big, huge cleansing breath as we prepare for prayer.
[00:21:19] God, your grace is wider than our imagination and your love is deeper than the ocean.
[00:22:17] We do not know the depths and the widths that you will go to love us and to care for us.
[00:22:25] and as we pray in this Easter season and remember how you returned to those disciples gave to them your presence once again brought the blessing of peace and you also gave them the commandment to be about peace
[00:22:45] help us to see in that story that you have given to us that your love is never ending and God on this day and this week we give thanks for the gift of creation for the way in which
[00:23:07] your presence can be seen all throughout the created order we pray oh God that you will make us more mindful of how we are a part of creation and how we can be a responsible
[00:23:22] part we give you thanks for the team of this church for their witness to us and also to the world God we lift up to you some special prayers we ask your presence to make itself manifest to Sawyer today as he approaches surgery in Charlotte.
[00:23:49] We pray for a fellow pastor in the hospital who's really struggling with some mental health.
[00:23:59] God, we pray for Cole, surviving the accident and now in need of a healing touch. God, it's hard to see how you are at work in this world, especially in the midst of a time of war.
[00:24:23] But you sent your son, the Prince of Peace, who gave us peace, the gift of it. We know that you would like us to be about it. So we ask that you, with your power and your presence, help touch
[00:24:41] deeply those that need your presence and guidance to find some sanity in the midst of our world.
[00:24:50] and to bring us back to not just a cessation of violence, but a new community that is bent on your love and your peace.
[00:25:03] Be with us in our service today, in our times of reflection, and give us a sense of your presence and power so that we may be ready to move out into the world, knowing that you go with us to celebrate your presence in the world.
[00:25:22] This we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, who taught disciples to pray together.
[00:25:27] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:25:32] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:25:38] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[00:25:47] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:25:52] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
[00:25:57] Amen.
[00:25:58] It's Creation Care Sunday, which means that that song that I made, I didn't make him, I asked him, to learn that is called A Big Mistake by David Wilcox.
[00:26:10] He gets to do it again.
[00:26:11] So bring it on for us, Jerry.
[00:26:13] A Big Mistake.
[00:26:14] I think you'll like it.
[00:26:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:26:16] Kids in school, he says grace.
[00:26:40] That the universe just sort of fell together like a big mistake it started with a bang and sent the pieces flying and then it cooled and twirled into dinosaurs and dandelions it was a big mistake to have eyes that see to have love like this
[00:27:07] To have lips that smile as I swim your kiss To have minds that will forever yet be part of this Life shrouded in the clouds above The autumn leaves and the falling mud The still reflection in my lake
[00:27:33] All they said it was a big mistake It was a big mistake And now back to science class, through the looking glass We were magnifying little ancestors of our ancient past Watch them break a couple chromosomes, wait a zillion years or so
[00:28:08] You get an ostrich, a jellyfish, a kangaroo and a Romeo It was a big mistake to have eyes that see To have love like this inside of me To have lips that smile as I swim your kiss
[00:28:34] To have minds that will forever every part of this All the moonlight shrouded in the clouds above The autumn leaves and the falling love The still reflection in the moonlight lake All they said it was a big mistake, it was a big mistake
[00:28:59] Coincidence at the turning point, there was eternity behind a moment's glance It was for you and me, the time it made us laugh The fact that anyone could find their only one on this darkened path
[00:29:33] It was a big mistake to have eyes that see, to have love like this inside of me, to have lips that smile as I swim your kiss, to have minds that will forever every part of this.
[00:29:59] The light shrouded in the clouds above, the autumn leaves, the falling love, the still reflection, the moonlight late.
[00:30:10] All they said was a big mistake, it was a big mistake.
[00:30:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:30:38] Let's do it.
[00:30:39] Yeah, that's a cool song.
[00:30:49] Gives me memories of debating my dad about evolution.
[00:30:57] I just told him I was an evolutionist and that was it.
[00:31:00] We had a big old argument about it and I won, sort of.
[00:31:04] The point was well taken.
[00:31:13] So we're in the Easter season, and this is an Easter passage.
[00:31:17] It's actually a week late.
[00:31:18] We switched it around a little bit because it didn't feel right to preach about Emmaus' walk a week after we did communion.
[00:31:26] That doesn't seem quite right, so we switched it around.
[00:31:28] But this passage begins on Easter evening and then one week later.
[00:31:36] So this is a resurrection passage, and it's from the Gospel of John, the 20th chapter, right beginning at the 19th verse.
[00:31:45] So listen for the word of God.
[00:31:48] When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews.
[00:31:56] Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
[00:32:04] After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
[00:32:07] And then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
[00:32:12] And Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you.
[00:32:17] As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
[00:32:21] And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
[00:32:30] If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
[00:32:32] If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
[00:32:35] But Thomas, who was called the twin, One of the twelve was not with them when Jesus came, and so the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord.
[00:32:46] But Thomas said to them, Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger in the mark of the nails, and my hand up into his side, I will not believe.
[00:33:00] A week later, the disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.
[00:33:07] Although the doors were shut, Jesus came, stood among them, and said, Peace be with you.
[00:33:14] And then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here.
[00:33:18] See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side.
[00:33:23] Do not doubt, but believe.
[00:33:26] Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God.
[00:33:31] Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me?
[00:33:35] Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have come to believe.
[00:33:40] The word of God for the people of God.
[00:33:43] Thanks be to God.
[00:33:45] Would you pray with me?
[00:33:52] God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of the hearts of all of us be acceptable in thy sight.
[00:33:58] O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
[00:34:01] Amen.
[00:34:03] Peace be with you.
[00:34:06] Ooh, nice.
[00:34:07] Thank you.
[00:34:09] Peace be with you is the words that the resurrected Jesus says.
[00:34:13] Jesus appears to them in the upper room.
[00:34:17] The door was locked, but there He is.
[00:34:19] He appears and says, Peace be with you.
[00:34:21] And you know, that moment must have been very awkward.
[00:34:26] It must have been very strange.
[00:34:30] Like all the other resurrection stories, they do not recognize Jesus at first.
[00:34:35] I don't know why. Maybe Jesus looked different.
[00:34:38] Maybe they were, you know, really expecting Him to come back.
[00:34:43] Even the words that Jesus says doesn't sort of shake the disciples free, really.
[00:34:49] They were nowhere near a state of peace.
[00:34:52] They were still overwhelmed with grief.
[00:34:54] They were hiding in fear.
[00:34:56] And when Jesus said those words, nothing registered.
[00:34:59] It was only when Jesus showed his wounds that they woke out of their stupor.
[00:35:05] And then they celebrated the return of the Lord, no doubt, with shouts of excitement and laughter.
[00:35:11] and probably so much so that Jesus had to calm them down and say, peace be with you, as he says it again.
[00:35:25] Friends, God knows what we want and what we need.
[00:35:30] God knows that we want and need peace.
[00:35:37] We are experiencing a fire hose of bad news coming at us all the time these days.
[00:35:44] The anxiety over the coming inflation, to get even worse, anxiety about the war, frustration with the lack of real information about the conflict.
[00:35:59] All of the news that seems just like again and again, just some crazy things.
[00:36:06] Our president posting pictures of himself as a doctor in Galilee for so many years ago.
[00:36:13] So many questions that we have about this time.
[00:36:18] you know it's not just about what's happening in the news as if that's not anxiety provoking enough but some of us struggle with a lot of that we we are anxious about the state of the economy
[00:36:32] the state of the fact that we have more bills and we have a paycheck to cover the the fact that we're maybe waiting for some news from a doctor to help us know what is next maybe we're struggling
[00:36:47] with relationships in our family or friendships that are sort of broken.
[00:36:54] And maybe we are feeling a sense of loneliness and overwhelming.
[00:36:58] We need peace, and it is hard to find peace, whether it's outside world or whether it's inside ourselves.
[00:37:07] I told the 10 o'clock service, and I'm going to repeat it to you, but they actually do a little better job of it than you do.
[00:37:13] I'm just going to say this.
[00:37:14] When I came to Ardmore Church, I had to teach everybody, in the 10 o'clock service especially, how to do the passing of the peace.
[00:37:27] More than a few of them, my first month, let me know that they didn't like it, that it was disruptive, that it was, you know, broke up things in the service, you know?
[00:37:41] And just to greet each other, one another, with the greeting, the peace of Christ be with you.
[00:37:48] You know, people thought it was disruptive, and it is.
[00:37:52] People thought that it was awkward, and it is.
[00:37:56] I usually like a group of people that know how to be quiet, but, you know, in the 10 o'clock service especially, the fear of greeting one another was palpable.
[00:38:09] You could sense it.
[00:38:10] But they got over it.
[00:38:12] So much so, you know, I congratulated them because it's not an easy thing to do, to break those habits.
[00:38:18] and I congratulated them.
[00:38:20] Now, of course, you can't get them to settle down after you start passing the peace.
[00:38:24] Have a whistle or a bell or something.
[00:38:29] Occasionally, even when people come and they visit, yes, even the 10 o'clock service, they say, you know, this place is kind of friendly.
[00:38:38] So I congratulate them.
[00:38:41] Passing the peace is more than that.
[00:38:44] It really is more than that.
[00:38:45] The peace of Christ is a response that we usually use in the 10 o'clock service to the news of forgiveness.
[00:38:54] It is using the words, the same words.
[00:38:58] We are quoting the words of Jesus, right?
[00:39:02] Peace be with you.
[00:39:04] In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, Peace I leave with you.
[00:39:08] My peace I give to you.
[00:39:10] I do not give to you as the world gives.
[00:39:12] Do not let your hearts be troubled.
[00:39:13] Do not let them be afraid.
[00:39:15] Jesus is trying to give a different kind of peace, one that is beyond a sense of fear.
[00:39:23] The peace of Christ is different than how we think about peace.
[00:39:27] It is an affirmation that God is always present to us.
[00:39:31] It's an affirmation, it's a reminder of the resurrection, right?
[00:39:35] When Jesus comes to bring us peace, we are reminded that he is present to us still.
[00:39:43] And, you know, that peace, Jesus said, is best known when two or three are gathered in my name.
[00:39:53] You know what that means?
[00:39:55] That means when we gather in the name of Christ, Jesus envisioned us to have a fellowship and a community where we would know this peace.
[00:40:06] You with me on this?
[00:40:09] So it's not a little thing to pass the peace.
[00:40:14] It is a good thing to get to know people, make them feel welcome and all of that.
[00:40:19] It's a nice thing to have reunions with people that you hadn't seen in a while.
[00:40:24] But the real thing is, it's a sign of us as a community.
[00:40:29] You know, as a liturgical act, passing of the peace was originally called the kiss of peace.
[00:40:34] You find that in the New Testament.
[00:40:35] And at one point, people were misusing the kiss of peace.
[00:40:40] They were using it to advance on others, on another, who did not want to receive a kiss.
[00:40:45] And so the church had to squelch the practice, took it out of the liturgy.
[00:40:48] And then it came back in Vatican II.
[00:40:50] They said, hey, we're not doing this right.
[00:40:51] found its way back in the liturgy but now commonly in churches when we pass the peace it's more of a handshake it's not a time for all you extroverts to accost your introverted friends okay
[00:41:03] my other church you know all of the introverts ran up to the balcony because they were afraid somebody would hug them it's a moment to remember that we are called to the practice of a kind of community that is different from the world.
[00:41:21] The peace I give to you is not as the world gives.
[00:41:27] In John's account of Jesus' resurrection, some people were outside of the community, left out, I guess.
[00:41:34] They were there or they were absent.
[00:41:35] Well, okay, Thomas. Thomas wasn't there.
[00:41:40] When I read Thomas' words, I think he has a little bit of an attitude.
[00:41:46] Not that that's bad.
[00:41:48] It wasn't enough to hear about other people's experience of Jesus' presence.
[00:41:53] He wanted it too.
[00:41:55] And so he had doubts.
[00:41:57] I'm not going to believe it.
[00:42:00] Doubt.
[00:42:02] Now, if you have, if all of you here would be telling me, if any of you would say, I don't have any doubts whatsoever, then I think you're just not trying hard enough to ask a good question.
[00:42:16] And I would love to give you some questions that might make you think a little bit.
[00:42:24] Some of you came out of churches where the words of truth were thrown at you like stone tablets and that you were wounded by their judgment.
[00:42:37] Gave you no room for the questions that you had going on inside of you.
[00:42:43] Doubt is not the absence of faith.
[00:42:45] It is part of the process of growing our faith.
[00:42:48] As I've shared with you before, it was Frederick Buechner who famously said, doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.
[00:42:58] They keep it awake and moving.
[00:43:02] Whether we are a religious refugee having ran away from other churches or that we're just honest in our skepticism, there is a place.
[00:43:11] There's a place for raising doubts and asking questions.
[00:43:16] I do not want to be a part of a church where people can't raise a question or discussion.
[00:43:24] The disciple Thomas, doubting Thomas, if you have questions, he is your patron saint.
[00:43:31] Some people, I have to say, when it comes to skepticism, skepticism is not a place you want to stop in your faith development.
[00:43:44] Because some people are so skeptical that they just want to tear down any sense of community.
[00:43:51] Questions are often weaponized to sow doubt in others.
[00:43:56] Again, I point to Thomas as a good example because he did not leave the community.
[00:44:00] He had questions.
[00:44:01] He doubted.
[00:44:02] He doubted his best friends, but he was holding out for something more.
[00:44:07] But he stayed in the community, right?
[00:44:13] The real question is the fact that he stuck around.
[00:44:18] It's important.
[00:44:18] doubt, skepticism, though this is what I'm trying to get at. That is not the goal. And we have to remember that our big questions, and I've got them, I carry them around, I'm ready to
[00:44:31] pull them out at any moment.
[00:44:34] They don't get you to what where we are looking for.
[00:44:38] And we are looking for peace.
[00:44:41] We're looking for the nature of that peace of Christ and how we can get it.
[00:44:49] Thomas' doubts made him hold on out for something more his own experience and he got it okay see jesus seems to appear to thomas and turn to him and when he turns to him it's kind of confrontational in jesus with his
[00:45:04] wounds he does more than just show him to thomas he says go ahead put your finger right here right god take your hand push it up here in my side go ahead you asked for it thomas suddenly releases
[00:45:19] his doubts with a profession of faith, probably because he's terrified, but he makes a profession of faith. My Lord, my God, he is confronted with the reality of Jesus' wounds, reminder of his suffering and death. And this woke him up. Fred Craddock used to say, I love it in his sermon,
[00:45:47] And he says, you know, Jesus didn't appear and say, look, it didn't hurt a bit, right?
[00:45:53] No, he shows his wounds, the pain and the reality of living and in death.
[00:46:03] Woke Thomas right up.
[00:46:08] This is Creation Care Sunday.
[00:46:09] You know, yesterday the bishop had a, I know you went.
[00:46:16] Did you go?
[00:46:17] So had a summit on creation care.
[00:46:20] I did not go.
[00:46:21] I had self-care Saturday.
[00:46:25] And don't tell the bishop.
[00:46:27] You can tell him, I don't care.
[00:46:30] But I am so glad about the creation care initiative in the United Methodist Church.
[00:46:37] It's a long time coming.
[00:46:39] And those of us that have leaned hard into environmentalism, we've needed something to get us there.
[00:46:46] The thing I love about it is really that it's theologically correct.
[00:46:52] It's not about environmental activism.
[00:46:54] I mean, it is.
[00:46:55] But it's more than that.
[00:46:58] It's theologically correct.
[00:46:59] When we talk about creation, we are saying that the environment, the world that we live in, has meaning and has a divine purpose, has a designer, right?
[00:47:14] It's not a big mistake.
[00:47:18] Just as we were created in the image of God, the whole universe, the whole world everything outside the doors here suddenly can be opened up and you can see God's fingerprints all throughout the natural world.
[00:47:33] There is ample evidence that we are not doing right by God's creation.
[00:47:39] We know this, we're measuring it, we're showing that.
[00:47:42] We all know that.
[00:47:45] Parts of the creation have been affected by the way we human beings have lived our lives.
[00:47:54] Species have disappeared because of what we have done, right?
[00:47:58] Whole vast parts of creation have sort of disappeared because of the way we have managed or not managed our being in the garden of creation.
[00:48:12] So the creation itself is carrying its scars, and I wonder if we are really doing our part those of us who really believe, and I do believe this, that there is a designer behind this creation.
[00:48:30] It's actually going somewhere, not an accident.
[00:48:34] That if we are caring for it in the way that we should.
[00:48:39] Jerry and Matthew and I and Wilson, we get together on Wednesdays and we talk about Creation Care Sunday.
[00:48:45] Matthew Bacon asked if I was going to talk about Jesus' showing the nail holes in his hand and a reminder of the hole in the ozone layer.
[00:48:56] It's a little too on the nose, right?
[00:49:00] But yeah, we human beings are called to care about the harm that we humans have done to the creation.
[00:49:09] The temptation, you know, about doing this kind of work, as I remind people on the creation care team all the time, is don't be self-righteous about it, right?
[00:49:20] Don't be self-righteous about telling people what they should be doing.
[00:49:25] Because people don't like that.
[00:49:26] They don't like it.
[00:49:26] The temptation with such an initiative is to look down on others about the way that they do it and really do a lot of virtue signaling.
[00:49:40] Everybody comes driving past me with their Prius, and they just point and laugh.
[00:49:45] I'm kidding.
[00:49:47] Lynn said her favorite bumper sticker says, Cool Prius, said nobody anywhere.
[00:49:54] I really do want a Prius, but I really do.
[00:49:59] But there's something smug about that, and we have to be careful as we enter into an activity about how we are going to care for creation.
[00:50:10] I don't know anyone who is doing everything that they can to care for creation.
[00:50:15] And let me tell you something.
[00:50:17] I know a lot of tree-hugging vegan-gelicals out there, okay?
[00:50:22] And they're making great strides in that.
[00:50:26] But I think it turns us off when we have to be, what we're trying to do is to help people be mindful.
[00:50:38] The call for the team is to remind us to be mindful of all of creation, to be mindful of others that are beyond ourselves, of all the two-legged beings on the planet, of all the four-legged beings in our environment,
[00:50:54] of all the flora and the fauna, not because we want to look good to others, but because if we do this, if we care for it, it can be an act of prayer.
[00:51:05] It's our engagement with the divine presence itself in creation.
[00:51:16] There is a crazy verse in this scripture passage.
[00:51:20] It's peculiar, a little detail, but I love it.
[00:51:24] Jesus breathed on them.
[00:51:28] Did you catch that?
[00:51:30] I mean, I don't know how many places in the Bible we ever hear somebody breathing on somebody else.
[00:51:35] There's nothing more annoying than being breathed on, especially if someone has bad breath.
[00:51:39] But, you know, Jesus breathed on them.
[00:51:41] What is that about, you know?
[00:51:44] The resurrected Jesus had a body, and his body breathed.
[00:51:51] It wasn't some walking corpse, right?
[00:51:54] But Jesus breathes on the disciples.
[00:51:59] You remember Good Friday?
[00:52:01] Those of you that came to the service, I had this task of doing the last of the seven words.
[00:52:07] It was the words where it said, and when Jesus breathed his last, he said these words, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
[00:52:16] And then Jesus breathed his last.
[00:52:19] That's false.
[00:52:20] The gospel was lying to you.
[00:52:23] That's not true.
[00:52:24] Because in this chapter, John chapter 20, the resurrected Jesus breathes again.
[00:52:32] It's good news.
[00:52:36] Jesus comes breathing on the disciples.
[00:52:37] And in that breath, Jesus gives a commission.
[00:52:41] It's sort of like, Jesus, if I could give you one more breath after death, what would you say?
[00:52:48] And he has a few breaths.
[00:52:50] So he says, peace be with you.
[00:52:52] That's the first thing.
[00:52:54] The second thing is, the Father sent me.
[00:52:57] I am sending you.
[00:53:00] Jesus resurrected Jesus and breathes on them and says, go.
[00:53:06] This is the commission, the great commission.
[00:53:11] You know, Jesus is putting the disciples to work, and that includes us.
[00:53:19] There is enough bad news in the world.
[00:53:22] Remember the fire hose that's coming at you all the time.
[00:53:24] And there's ample clarity.
[00:53:27] If you want to find out, you can do the research about how we have wounded the earth.
[00:53:32] I don't need to hit you over the head with statistics.
[00:53:35] But you know, what I do want to say is this.
[00:53:37] The earth is still breathing, and I marvel at how the earth is always in the process of healing itself in amazing ways.
[00:53:50] It is an absolute wonder.
[00:53:54] So maybe we can all breathe in this breath of Jesus' commission.
[00:53:59] Maybe we can all pick up and join the creation care team and extend our call, not just to go out and share the good news about Jesus, but to go out and find Jesus' presence in all of nature itself,
[00:54:15] to extend our call to compassion for the earth itself.
[00:54:23] Brett and Mary Jack and I are in a centering prayer group online, and on Tuesday, our friend from, who I've never actually met in person, but see him every single week, a friend in Kentucky,
[00:54:36] he was telling me about something, so I looked it up, and it's great.
[00:54:41] So, Father Richard Rohr, you've heard me talk about him.
[00:54:45] He seems to write a book every year, and one that is always just ahead of my spiritual journey.
[00:54:50] He has a practice that I want to share with you.
[00:54:53] He talks about the way in which we look at the world, and he says he identifies three ways, glancing, glaring, and gazing.
[00:55:03] So glancing, when we glance at things, we are so focused on the future ahead of us that we're not really paying attention to those things.
[00:55:10] I mean, we glance at them.
[00:55:11] It's kind of like when you're in the car, headed somewhere, you're passing the world by.
[00:55:17] Because you're trying to go to the future, to somewhere out there.
[00:55:22] And all of those habits that we are trying to do the next thing, the next thing, our commitments, our next email, our next text, our work projects, our family commitments.
[00:55:34] And the world's just whizzing by us.
[00:55:37] We're just glancing at it.
[00:55:38] He says, here's another way of looking, and that is glaring.
[00:55:43] And when you glare at something, you are looking at it, but you're giving it not a very good positive attention, right?
[00:55:52] When you glare at someone, I know you've all been glared at before, right?
[00:55:55] You're bringing some energy and some emotion, oftentimes angry.
[00:55:59] He says that this is the breeding ground for resentment.
[00:56:03] Think about social media.
[00:56:04] He says, it's great for this.
[00:56:05] I mean, you know, you find somebody who's angry and they're angry at the same things that you are and you watch that thing, guess what?
[00:56:13] The algorithm's going to spit it right back to you another way so that you can be more angry.
[00:56:18] You could be angry all day long, right?
[00:56:21] Puts this emotional hook in you and you glare, glaring.
[00:56:26] You're stuck in a cycle of rumination and unhelpful thoughts.
[00:56:30] You're getting caught up in all these things that are out of your own control, right?
[00:56:34] when we glare at things we know about that and we stuck stuck about the past so glancing is about being overwhelmed by the future glaring about the past and then he says gazing gazing is looking at
[00:56:53] the world with a deep attention not ignoring it with a gaze with a with a glare but instead a sustained gaze, fully present with one thing, deeply present, attention, and it's all in the present moment.
[00:57:15] He uses this as a practice for spirituality.
[00:57:17] In the very present moment, to try to stay right there where you are, not to go far ahead, not to look back, and to be aware of the presence, with a big capital P, of the divine,
[00:57:31] or at least another person.
[00:57:35] Marge Piercy has a poem I love where she says, attention is love, right?
[00:57:40] It's what we give our family, our pets, our plants.
[00:57:44] We give it attention.
[00:57:46] It is our way of showing love.
[00:57:50] And whatever you can't bless, she says, then get ready to make it better.
[00:57:56] Pick up a shovel.
[00:57:59] A deep breath can help in this whole idea.
[00:58:03] Just stop what you're doing.
[00:58:04] You could do it inside, but it's better if you go outside.
[00:58:07] You know, go out and suck up some pollen right now, right?
[00:58:10] Go out there, take a big, deep, cleansing breath, and open your eyes, and just try to look at creation itself and to marvel at it, the intricacy that you can see within a simple leaf,
[00:58:26] the vastness of the cosmos and the stars at night.
[00:58:30] be filled with wonder at how much creation works well together.
[00:58:38] And maybe while you're doing that, by accident, you can receive a blessing from the resurrected Jesus because Jesus is out there breathing on all of us.
[00:58:50] Did you know that when you breathe in some of your breath, molecules in that breath belong to almost every human that has ever lived?
[00:59:00] That's right.
[00:59:01] You're breathing the same air that Adolf Hitler did and Jesus Christ.
[00:59:10] Take a deep breath and maybe the blessing of the resurrected Christ will breathe on you and maybe you'll hear it in a bird, hear it in the sound of a moving water.
[00:59:26] Maybe you'll hear these words, peace be with you.
[00:59:33] In the name of our creator, our sustainer, and our redeemer.
[00:59:37] Amen.
[00:59:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:59:51] Y'all stand if you're able and sing one more with us.
[01:00:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:00:04] And darkness tries to roll over my bones to steal the joy I know.
[01:00:16] Darkness and pain is all I know.
[01:00:20] I won't be shaken.
[01:00:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:00:28] Instead of shame and shame.
[01:03:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:03:15] The peace of Christ be with you all.
[01:03:18] Yeah, thank you.
[01:03:19] I needed that.
[01:03:20] So, be not afraid.
[01:03:23] This is what the angels say.
[01:03:24] This is what Jesus says in His return.
[01:03:27] So, tell us once again.
[01:03:28] say it to yourself so that you can stand in Christ's love and be a witness to it. So go out in the world because there's a lot of love falling from the trees for you to suck up in a big breath
[01:03:39] and just know that you are a part of that creation and celebrate it and find some ways for yourself to care for it.
[01:03:49] We go with God who goes with us in the name of our creator, our sustainer and our redeemer. Amen.
[00:00:00] Good morning, you guys. Happy Sunday. Thanks for being here. Thanks for not being in there eating cookies during worship.
[00:00:07] There's a place for you in heaven. Stand as you're able and sing some songs for us.
[00:00:48] Peace of Christ be with y'all. And also with you. Y'all take a moment to pass the peace.
[00:04:29] Go grab a seat. Now it's time for announcements. Good morning, friends. I welcome all of you to
[00:09:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:09:45] to this Creation Care service of worship today.
[00:09:48] There are people joining us, our service via live stream, and we hope this service is meaningful to all of you at home.
[00:09:55] Now, if you are visiting in person today, thank you for coming.
[00:09:58] In the pockets on the back of the chairs, not in the pews, you have a visitor card.
[00:10:06] They are easy to fill out, and if you want, you can even fill them out online by following the QR code.
[00:10:12] We would love to know you are here and perhaps be in touch with you.
[00:10:16] If you have been visiting with us, you can attend a gathering called the Next Steps Meeting this Wednesday at 5.30 on April 22nd.
[00:10:25] The information for that is in the bulletin.
[00:10:28] Let Pastor Kelly know you are interested or call the church office.
[00:10:33] Today is the second meeting of Poor Theology Part Deux.
[00:10:39] That's P-O-U-R, and it's a project of taking church beyond the walls of this building.
[00:10:45] Today we'll feature the music of Jerry Chapman and company and a guest from the non-profit Faith Action International.
[00:10:55] Poor Theology will meet this afternoon at 3.30 at Footnotes downtown, and we'd love to have you join us.
[00:11:01] Next week, we have a few people going to join the Forsyth Jail and Prison Ministry for their weekly worship service at the Cherry Street Prison.
[00:11:09] If you would like to join them, you will need to be in contact with Dawn Egan today.
[00:11:14] Her information is in the bulletin, or you can see her at the reception between the services, which already happened.
[00:11:20] Never mind.
[00:11:23] Some of you were able to attend the creation care reception before the service.
[00:11:28] Stephanie Rehm is here to share a little about the creation care team.
[00:11:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:11:33] Hi.
[00:11:34] Thank you for allowing me a few minutes to talk about our creation care team.
[00:11:37] It's headed by Dawn Lewis, who usually attends the service.
[00:11:40] We are a group of people that care deeply about creation and taking care of the earth and being good stewards and we have a little bit of fun along the way We've been active for about two years
[00:11:52] Our first project was the butterfly garden in the entrance of the Through the Week school and last year we planted milkweed to help migrating monarch butterflies as they come through Apparently we're in the butterfly hospitality business too
[00:12:10] Dick and Nancy Smith were originally planted that garden and we enjoyed bringing it back to life and to support these important pollinators you may also remember our Buy the Bulb campaign last fall as a part of an energy audit by Duke Energy
[00:12:27] we learned that switching from fluorescent to LED lights could really be a good way of saving energy and reducing costs to the church and being good stewards Thanks to your generosity, we earned about $4,000,
[00:12:41] and we've updated most of the church's lighting.
[00:12:44] Just the sanctuary is left on our to-do list.
[00:12:47] It's a bigger project, but it's expected to save about $5,000 per year.
[00:12:53] We are also working on reducing plastics in our kitchen area, and we started a composting program.
[00:13:01] Even small changes can add up, And we have a fantastic triple threat team, Nick and Jill Daly and Ashley back in our booth, have our sound video professional, have put together a short but super helpful video on
[00:13:15] composting, what can and can't be composted. So make sure you take a look at that. It's coming soon to our church website. And looking ahead, we are very excited to apply this summer for a
[00:13:26] green church initiative through the North Carolina Conference. It's a great opportunity to grow as we care for our creation and the world around us and to be a leader in stewardship in our community. So we'll definitely keep you posted. If this
[00:13:40] sparks your interest, we'd love to have you join us. We usually meet on the last Thursday of every month. This week we will not meet. This month we will not meet. But if you have any ideas, I'm going to pass
[00:13:52] around some post-it notes, one on each side. You can write down some ideas and I'll be here at the end of the service if you want to talk with me further.
[00:14:02] Thank you.
[00:14:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:14:07] Hey, can I use your music, Sam?
[00:14:13] Oh, good.
[00:14:14] I have a song to sing.
[00:14:17] I'll sing along with you.
[00:14:19] Good morning.
[00:14:24] It's good to see everybody today.
[00:14:26] Today is Creation Care Sunday, and so I want to remember that.
[00:14:32] This coming week is Earth Day.
[00:14:34] And by the way, Jerry is today at 3 o'clock.
[00:14:38] He's going to actually sing Earth songs, some of them that you already know.
[00:14:44] Are they supposed to be pro-Earth?
[00:14:46] Pro-Earth would be good.
[00:14:48] Yeah.
[00:14:48] that'd be good like birthday songs or something like that yeah um yeah we yeah we should have planned that a little better um do you all have some prayer concerns that you might want to share
[00:15:01] today before we go for a time of prayer yes what's his uh name again sawyer uh your grandson is headed for surgery to is did you say raleigh charlotte excuse me i just knew it was far away um so yeah
[00:15:32] So let's pray for Sawyer there.
[00:15:39] And his mom and dad.
[00:15:41] And his grandparents.
[00:15:43] Not that you're all having surgery, but I know I got you.
[00:15:50] Others?
[00:15:55] Wow, everybody's doing good.
[00:15:59] Hey, I just saw you.
[00:16:01] Good to see you, Gene.
[00:16:04] Any others?
[00:16:05] Other prayer concerns?
[00:16:06] Yeah.
[00:16:13] Uh-oh.
[00:16:14] Yeah, and he is...
[00:16:20] Now, Gail, tell me, how do you know this pastor?
[00:16:37] Well, his wife.
[00:16:40] Okay, I see, yeah.
[00:16:41] And we have their son.
[00:16:43] And local?
[00:16:45] Not anymore.
[00:16:46] They're in Charleston.
[00:16:47] In Charleston, okay.
[00:16:49] Yeah.
[00:16:49] So, yeah, retired Methodist minister is really a friend of Gail's that's really struggling with some mental health issues is in the hospital.
[00:16:58] So let's keep him in our prayers.
[00:17:02] Others?
[00:17:05] Yeah, Jean.
[00:17:07] So your son and daughter-in-law have a friend named Cole.
[00:17:34] Cole. And Cole was in a plane accident.
[00:17:38] Yeah, okay. Let's keep him in our prayers. That's tough.
[00:17:44] Yeah. Any others?
[00:17:49] Well, friends, I don't know about you, but as the war carries on and trying to figure out exactly what's going on there, that is of great concern.
[00:17:58] I know it very much haunts us a little bit about information and the lack thereof.
[00:18:05] and so let's keep all of our soldiers and all the people in every country that is affected by this conflict and pray for some sanity around all of that.
[00:18:19] Any others?
[00:18:20] Yes.
[00:18:23] Brett.
[00:18:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:18:47] Right.
[00:19:02] Yeah.
[00:19:40] Right.
[00:19:48] Yeah.
[00:19:49] Yes.
[00:20:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:20:00] Yes, indeed.
[00:20:01] It's good preaching, by the way.
[00:20:02] That's good preaching.
[00:20:04] Yeah.
[00:20:05] no Brett I appreciate you saying that it's been a difficult week where we've heard some just horrible theological things spoken into microphones but people that really have no sense about it and you know whenever you hear about
[00:20:21] God taking sides or God rewarding us because we're righteous you've got we all have to remember Jesus is teaching on that that the rain falls and the sun shines and the good and the bad alike
[00:20:35] and that uh we're all god's favorite so uh and we have to remember that and and really underscore that and not try to get god on our side for whatever political reason and so i think that
[00:20:49] um that's that's really important i appreciate you saying that though yeah good all right well now we got to pray so um come on up here jerry we're gonna work jerry so hard today gosh um
[00:21:05] and let's center ourselves and Jerry will give us a little music to help us take a nice, big, huge cleansing breath as we prepare for prayer.
[00:21:19] God, your grace is wider than our imagination and your love is deeper than the ocean.
[00:22:17] We do not know the depths and the widths that you will go to love us and to care for us.
[00:22:25] and as we pray in this Easter season and remember how you returned to those disciples gave to them your presence once again brought the blessing of peace and you also gave them the commandment to be about peace
[00:22:45] help us to see in that story that you have given to us that your love is never ending and God on this day and this week we give thanks for the gift of creation for the way in which
[00:23:07] your presence can be seen all throughout the created order we pray oh God that you will make us more mindful of how we are a part of creation and how we can be a responsible
[00:23:22] part we give you thanks for the team of this church for their witness to us and also to the world God we lift up to you some special prayers we ask your presence to make itself manifest to Sawyer today as he approaches surgery in Charlotte.
[00:23:49] We pray for a fellow pastor in the hospital who's really struggling with some mental health.
[00:23:59] God, we pray for Cole, surviving the accident and now in need of a healing touch. God, it's hard to see how you are at work in this world, especially in the midst of a time of war.
[00:24:23] But you sent your son, the Prince of Peace, who gave us peace, the gift of it. We know that you would like us to be about it. So we ask that you, with your power and your presence, help touch
[00:24:41] deeply those that need your presence and guidance to find some sanity in the midst of our world.
[00:24:50] and to bring us back to not just a cessation of violence, but a new community that is bent on your love and your peace.
[00:25:03] Be with us in our service today, in our times of reflection, and give us a sense of your presence and power so that we may be ready to move out into the world, knowing that you go with us to celebrate your presence in the world.
[00:25:22] This we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, who taught disciples to pray together.
[00:25:27] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:25:32] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:25:38] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[00:25:47] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:25:52] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
[00:25:57] Amen.
[00:25:58] It's Creation Care Sunday, which means that that song that I made, I didn't make him, I asked him, to learn that is called A Big Mistake by David Wilcox.
[00:26:10] He gets to do it again.
[00:26:11] So bring it on for us, Jerry.
[00:26:13] A Big Mistake.
[00:26:14] I think you'll like it.
[00:26:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:26:16] Kids in school, he says grace.
[00:26:40] That the universe just sort of fell together like a big mistake it started with a bang and sent the pieces flying and then it cooled and twirled into dinosaurs and dandelions it was a big mistake to have eyes that see to have love like this
[00:27:07] To have lips that smile as I swim your kiss To have minds that will forever yet be part of this Life shrouded in the clouds above The autumn leaves and the falling mud The still reflection in my lake
[00:27:33] All they said it was a big mistake It was a big mistake And now back to science class, through the looking glass We were magnifying little ancestors of our ancient past Watch them break a couple chromosomes, wait a zillion years or so
[00:28:08] You get an ostrich, a jellyfish, a kangaroo and a Romeo It was a big mistake to have eyes that see To have love like this inside of me To have lips that smile as I swim your kiss
[00:28:34] To have minds that will forever every part of this All the moonlight shrouded in the clouds above The autumn leaves and the falling love The still reflection in the moonlight lake All they said it was a big mistake, it was a big mistake
[00:28:59] Coincidence at the turning point, there was eternity behind a moment's glance It was for you and me, the time it made us laugh The fact that anyone could find their only one on this darkened path
[00:29:33] It was a big mistake to have eyes that see, to have love like this inside of me, to have lips that smile as I swim your kiss, to have minds that will forever every part of this.
[00:29:59] The light shrouded in the clouds above, the autumn leaves, the falling love, the still reflection, the moonlight late.
[00:30:10] All they said was a big mistake, it was a big mistake.
[00:30:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:30:38] Let's do it.
[00:30:39] Yeah, that's a cool song.
[00:30:49] Gives me memories of debating my dad about evolution.
[00:30:57] I just told him I was an evolutionist and that was it.
[00:31:00] We had a big old argument about it and I won, sort of.
[00:31:04] The point was well taken.
[00:31:13] So we're in the Easter season, and this is an Easter passage.
[00:31:17] It's actually a week late.
[00:31:18] We switched it around a little bit because it didn't feel right to preach about Emmaus' walk a week after we did communion.
[00:31:26] That doesn't seem quite right, so we switched it around.
[00:31:28] But this passage begins on Easter evening and then one week later.
[00:31:36] So this is a resurrection passage, and it's from the Gospel of John, the 20th chapter, right beginning at the 19th verse.
[00:31:45] So listen for the word of God.
[00:31:48] When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews.
[00:31:56] Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
[00:32:04] After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
[00:32:07] And then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
[00:32:12] And Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you.
[00:32:17] As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
[00:32:21] And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
[00:32:30] If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
[00:32:32] If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
[00:32:35] But Thomas, who was called the twin, One of the twelve was not with them when Jesus came, and so the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord.
[00:32:46] But Thomas said to them, Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger in the mark of the nails, and my hand up into his side, I will not believe.
[00:33:00] A week later, the disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.
[00:33:07] Although the doors were shut, Jesus came, stood among them, and said, Peace be with you.
[00:33:14] And then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here.
[00:33:18] See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side.
[00:33:23] Do not doubt, but believe.
[00:33:26] Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God.
[00:33:31] Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me?
[00:33:35] Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have come to believe.
[00:33:40] The word of God for the people of God.
[00:33:43] Thanks be to God.
[00:33:45] Would you pray with me?
[00:33:52] God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of the hearts of all of us be acceptable in thy sight.
[00:33:58] O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
[00:34:01] Amen.
[00:34:03] Peace be with you.
[00:34:06] Ooh, nice.
[00:34:07] Thank you.
[00:34:09] Peace be with you is the words that the resurrected Jesus says.
[00:34:13] Jesus appears to them in the upper room.
[00:34:17] The door was locked, but there He is.
[00:34:19] He appears and says, Peace be with you.
[00:34:21] And you know, that moment must have been very awkward.
[00:34:26] It must have been very strange.
[00:34:30] Like all the other resurrection stories, they do not recognize Jesus at first.
[00:34:35] I don't know why. Maybe Jesus looked different.
[00:34:38] Maybe they were, you know, really expecting Him to come back.
[00:34:43] Even the words that Jesus says doesn't sort of shake the disciples free, really.
[00:34:49] They were nowhere near a state of peace.
[00:34:52] They were still overwhelmed with grief.
[00:34:54] They were hiding in fear.
[00:34:56] And when Jesus said those words, nothing registered.
[00:34:59] It was only when Jesus showed his wounds that they woke out of their stupor.
[00:35:05] And then they celebrated the return of the Lord, no doubt, with shouts of excitement and laughter.
[00:35:11] and probably so much so that Jesus had to calm them down and say, peace be with you, as he says it again.
[00:35:25] Friends, God knows what we want and what we need.
[00:35:30] God knows that we want and need peace.
[00:35:37] We are experiencing a fire hose of bad news coming at us all the time these days.
[00:35:44] The anxiety over the coming inflation, to get even worse, anxiety about the war, frustration with the lack of real information about the conflict.
[00:35:59] All of the news that seems just like again and again, just some crazy things.
[00:36:06] Our president posting pictures of himself as a doctor in Galilee for so many years ago.
[00:36:13] So many questions that we have about this time.
[00:36:18] you know it's not just about what's happening in the news as if that's not anxiety provoking enough but some of us struggle with a lot of that we we are anxious about the state of the economy
[00:36:32] the state of the fact that we have more bills and we have a paycheck to cover the the fact that we're maybe waiting for some news from a doctor to help us know what is next maybe we're struggling
[00:36:47] with relationships in our family or friendships that are sort of broken.
[00:36:54] And maybe we are feeling a sense of loneliness and overwhelming.
[00:36:58] We need peace, and it is hard to find peace, whether it's outside world or whether it's inside ourselves.
[00:37:07] I told the 10 o'clock service, and I'm going to repeat it to you, but they actually do a little better job of it than you do.
[00:37:13] I'm just going to say this.
[00:37:14] When I came to Ardmore Church, I had to teach everybody, in the 10 o'clock service especially, how to do the passing of the peace.
[00:37:27] More than a few of them, my first month, let me know that they didn't like it, that it was disruptive, that it was, you know, broke up things in the service, you know?
[00:37:41] And just to greet each other, one another, with the greeting, the peace of Christ be with you.
[00:37:48] You know, people thought it was disruptive, and it is.
[00:37:52] People thought that it was awkward, and it is.
[00:37:56] I usually like a group of people that know how to be quiet, but, you know, in the 10 o'clock service especially, the fear of greeting one another was palpable.
[00:38:09] You could sense it.
[00:38:10] But they got over it.
[00:38:12] So much so, you know, I congratulated them because it's not an easy thing to do, to break those habits.
[00:38:18] and I congratulated them.
[00:38:20] Now, of course, you can't get them to settle down after you start passing the peace.
[00:38:24] Have a whistle or a bell or something.
[00:38:29] Occasionally, even when people come and they visit, yes, even the 10 o'clock service, they say, you know, this place is kind of friendly.
[00:38:38] So I congratulate them.
[00:38:41] Passing the peace is more than that.
[00:38:44] It really is more than that.
[00:38:45] The peace of Christ is a response that we usually use in the 10 o'clock service to the news of forgiveness.
[00:38:54] It is using the words, the same words.
[00:38:58] We are quoting the words of Jesus, right?
[00:39:02] Peace be with you.
[00:39:04] In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, Peace I leave with you.
[00:39:08] My peace I give to you.
[00:39:10] I do not give to you as the world gives.
[00:39:12] Do not let your hearts be troubled.
[00:39:13] Do not let them be afraid.
[00:39:15] Jesus is trying to give a different kind of peace, one that is beyond a sense of fear.
[00:39:23] The peace of Christ is different than how we think about peace.
[00:39:27] It is an affirmation that God is always present to us.
[00:39:31] It's an affirmation, it's a reminder of the resurrection, right?
[00:39:35] When Jesus comes to bring us peace, we are reminded that he is present to us still.
[00:39:43] And, you know, that peace, Jesus said, is best known when two or three are gathered in my name.
[00:39:53] You know what that means?
[00:39:55] That means when we gather in the name of Christ, Jesus envisioned us to have a fellowship and a community where we would know this peace.
[00:40:06] You with me on this?
[00:40:09] So it's not a little thing to pass the peace.
[00:40:14] It is a good thing to get to know people, make them feel welcome and all of that.
[00:40:19] It's a nice thing to have reunions with people that you hadn't seen in a while.
[00:40:24] But the real thing is, it's a sign of us as a community.
[00:40:29] You know, as a liturgical act, passing of the peace was originally called the kiss of peace.
[00:40:34] You find that in the New Testament.
[00:40:35] And at one point, people were misusing the kiss of peace.
[00:40:40] They were using it to advance on others, on another, who did not want to receive a kiss.
[00:40:45] And so the church had to squelch the practice, took it out of the liturgy.
[00:40:48] And then it came back in Vatican II.
[00:40:50] They said, hey, we're not doing this right.
[00:40:51] found its way back in the liturgy but now commonly in churches when we pass the peace it's more of a handshake it's not a time for all you extroverts to accost your introverted friends okay
[00:41:03] my other church you know all of the introverts ran up to the balcony because they were afraid somebody would hug them it's a moment to remember that we are called to the practice of a kind of community that is different from the world.
[00:41:21] The peace I give to you is not as the world gives.
[00:41:27] In John's account of Jesus' resurrection, some people were outside of the community, left out, I guess.
[00:41:34] They were there or they were absent.
[00:41:35] Well, okay, Thomas. Thomas wasn't there.
[00:41:40] When I read Thomas' words, I think he has a little bit of an attitude.
[00:41:46] Not that that's bad.
[00:41:48] It wasn't enough to hear about other people's experience of Jesus' presence.
[00:41:53] He wanted it too.
[00:41:55] And so he had doubts.
[00:41:57] I'm not going to believe it.
[00:42:00] Doubt.
[00:42:02] Now, if you have, if all of you here would be telling me, if any of you would say, I don't have any doubts whatsoever, then I think you're just not trying hard enough to ask a good question.
[00:42:16] And I would love to give you some questions that might make you think a little bit.
[00:42:24] Some of you came out of churches where the words of truth were thrown at you like stone tablets and that you were wounded by their judgment.
[00:42:37] Gave you no room for the questions that you had going on inside of you.
[00:42:43] Doubt is not the absence of faith.
[00:42:45] It is part of the process of growing our faith.
[00:42:48] As I've shared with you before, it was Frederick Buechner who famously said, doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.
[00:42:58] They keep it awake and moving.
[00:43:02] Whether we are a religious refugee having ran away from other churches or that we're just honest in our skepticism, there is a place.
[00:43:11] There's a place for raising doubts and asking questions.
[00:43:16] I do not want to be a part of a church where people can't raise a question or discussion.
[00:43:24] The disciple Thomas, doubting Thomas, if you have questions, he is your patron saint.
[00:43:31] Some people, I have to say, when it comes to skepticism, skepticism is not a place you want to stop in your faith development.
[00:43:44] Because some people are so skeptical that they just want to tear down any sense of community.
[00:43:51] Questions are often weaponized to sow doubt in others.
[00:43:56] Again, I point to Thomas as a good example because he did not leave the community.
[00:44:00] He had questions.
[00:44:01] He doubted.
[00:44:02] He doubted his best friends, but he was holding out for something more.
[00:44:07] But he stayed in the community, right?
[00:44:13] The real question is the fact that he stuck around.
[00:44:18] It's important.
[00:44:18] doubt, skepticism, though this is what I'm trying to get at. That is not the goal. And we have to remember that our big questions, and I've got them, I carry them around, I'm ready to
[00:44:31] pull them out at any moment.
[00:44:34] They don't get you to what where we are looking for.
[00:44:38] And we are looking for peace.
[00:44:41] We're looking for the nature of that peace of Christ and how we can get it.
[00:44:49] Thomas' doubts made him hold on out for something more his own experience and he got it okay see jesus seems to appear to thomas and turn to him and when he turns to him it's kind of confrontational in jesus with his
[00:45:04] wounds he does more than just show him to thomas he says go ahead put your finger right here right god take your hand push it up here in my side go ahead you asked for it thomas suddenly releases
[00:45:19] his doubts with a profession of faith, probably because he's terrified, but he makes a profession of faith. My Lord, my God, he is confronted with the reality of Jesus' wounds, reminder of his suffering and death. And this woke him up. Fred Craddock used to say, I love it in his sermon,
[00:45:47] And he says, you know, Jesus didn't appear and say, look, it didn't hurt a bit, right?
[00:45:53] No, he shows his wounds, the pain and the reality of living and in death.
[00:46:03] Woke Thomas right up.
[00:46:08] This is Creation Care Sunday.
[00:46:09] You know, yesterday the bishop had a, I know you went.
[00:46:16] Did you go?
[00:46:17] So had a summit on creation care.
[00:46:20] I did not go.
[00:46:21] I had self-care Saturday.
[00:46:25] And don't tell the bishop.
[00:46:27] You can tell him, I don't care.
[00:46:30] But I am so glad about the creation care initiative in the United Methodist Church.
[00:46:37] It's a long time coming.
[00:46:39] And those of us that have leaned hard into environmentalism, we've needed something to get us there.
[00:46:46] The thing I love about it is really that it's theologically correct.
[00:46:52] It's not about environmental activism.
[00:46:54] I mean, it is.
[00:46:55] But it's more than that.
[00:46:58] It's theologically correct.
[00:46:59] When we talk about creation, we are saying that the environment, the world that we live in, has meaning and has a divine purpose, has a designer, right?
[00:47:14] It's not a big mistake.
[00:47:18] Just as we were created in the image of God, the whole universe, the whole world everything outside the doors here suddenly can be opened up and you can see God's fingerprints all throughout the natural world.
[00:47:33] There is ample evidence that we are not doing right by God's creation.
[00:47:39] We know this, we're measuring it, we're showing that.
[00:47:42] We all know that.
[00:47:45] Parts of the creation have been affected by the way we human beings have lived our lives.
[00:47:54] Species have disappeared because of what we have done, right?
[00:47:58] Whole vast parts of creation have sort of disappeared because of the way we have managed or not managed our being in the garden of creation.
[00:48:12] So the creation itself is carrying its scars, and I wonder if we are really doing our part those of us who really believe, and I do believe this, that there is a designer behind this creation.
[00:48:30] It's actually going somewhere, not an accident.
[00:48:34] That if we are caring for it in the way that we should.
[00:48:39] Jerry and Matthew and I and Wilson, we get together on Wednesdays and we talk about Creation Care Sunday.
[00:48:45] Matthew Bacon asked if I was going to talk about Jesus' showing the nail holes in his hand and a reminder of the hole in the ozone layer.
[00:48:56] It's a little too on the nose, right?
[00:49:00] But yeah, we human beings are called to care about the harm that we humans have done to the creation.
[00:49:09] The temptation, you know, about doing this kind of work, as I remind people on the creation care team all the time, is don't be self-righteous about it, right?
[00:49:20] Don't be self-righteous about telling people what they should be doing.
[00:49:25] Because people don't like that.
[00:49:26] They don't like it.
[00:49:26] The temptation with such an initiative is to look down on others about the way that they do it and really do a lot of virtue signaling.
[00:49:40] Everybody comes driving past me with their Prius, and they just point and laugh.
[00:49:45] I'm kidding.
[00:49:47] Lynn said her favorite bumper sticker says, Cool Prius, said nobody anywhere.
[00:49:54] I really do want a Prius, but I really do.
[00:49:59] But there's something smug about that, and we have to be careful as we enter into an activity about how we are going to care for creation.
[00:50:10] I don't know anyone who is doing everything that they can to care for creation.
[00:50:15] And let me tell you something.
[00:50:17] I know a lot of tree-hugging vegan-gelicals out there, okay?
[00:50:22] And they're making great strides in that.
[00:50:26] But I think it turns us off when we have to be, what we're trying to do is to help people be mindful.
[00:50:38] The call for the team is to remind us to be mindful of all of creation, to be mindful of others that are beyond ourselves, of all the two-legged beings on the planet, of all the four-legged beings in our environment,
[00:50:54] of all the flora and the fauna, not because we want to look good to others, but because if we do this, if we care for it, it can be an act of prayer.
[00:51:05] It's our engagement with the divine presence itself in creation.
[00:51:16] There is a crazy verse in this scripture passage.
[00:51:20] It's peculiar, a little detail, but I love it.
[00:51:24] Jesus breathed on them.
[00:51:28] Did you catch that?
[00:51:30] I mean, I don't know how many places in the Bible we ever hear somebody breathing on somebody else.
[00:51:35] There's nothing more annoying than being breathed on, especially if someone has bad breath.
[00:51:39] But, you know, Jesus breathed on them.
[00:51:41] What is that about, you know?
[00:51:44] The resurrected Jesus had a body, and his body breathed.
[00:51:51] It wasn't some walking corpse, right?
[00:51:54] But Jesus breathes on the disciples.
[00:51:59] You remember Good Friday?
[00:52:01] Those of you that came to the service, I had this task of doing the last of the seven words.
[00:52:07] It was the words where it said, and when Jesus breathed his last, he said these words, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
[00:52:16] And then Jesus breathed his last.
[00:52:19] That's false.
[00:52:20] The gospel was lying to you.
[00:52:23] That's not true.
[00:52:24] Because in this chapter, John chapter 20, the resurrected Jesus breathes again.
[00:52:32] It's good news.
[00:52:36] Jesus comes breathing on the disciples.
[00:52:37] And in that breath, Jesus gives a commission.
[00:52:41] It's sort of like, Jesus, if I could give you one more breath after death, what would you say?
[00:52:48] And he has a few breaths.
[00:52:50] So he says, peace be with you.
[00:52:52] That's the first thing.
[00:52:54] The second thing is, the Father sent me.
[00:52:57] I am sending you.
[00:53:00] Jesus resurrected Jesus and breathes on them and says, go.
[00:53:06] This is the commission, the great commission.
[00:53:11] You know, Jesus is putting the disciples to work, and that includes us.
[00:53:19] There is enough bad news in the world.
[00:53:22] Remember the fire hose that's coming at you all the time.
[00:53:24] And there's ample clarity.
[00:53:27] If you want to find out, you can do the research about how we have wounded the earth.
[00:53:32] I don't need to hit you over the head with statistics.
[00:53:35] But you know, what I do want to say is this.
[00:53:37] The earth is still breathing, and I marvel at how the earth is always in the process of healing itself in amazing ways.
[00:53:50] It is an absolute wonder.
[00:53:54] So maybe we can all breathe in this breath of Jesus' commission.
[00:53:59] Maybe we can all pick up and join the creation care team and extend our call, not just to go out and share the good news about Jesus, but to go out and find Jesus' presence in all of nature itself,
[00:54:15] to extend our call to compassion for the earth itself.
[00:54:23] Brett and Mary Jack and I are in a centering prayer group online, and on Tuesday, our friend from, who I've never actually met in person, but see him every single week, a friend in Kentucky,
[00:54:36] he was telling me about something, so I looked it up, and it's great.
[00:54:41] So, Father Richard Rohr, you've heard me talk about him.
[00:54:45] He seems to write a book every year, and one that is always just ahead of my spiritual journey.
[00:54:50] He has a practice that I want to share with you.
[00:54:53] He talks about the way in which we look at the world, and he says he identifies three ways, glancing, glaring, and gazing.
[00:55:03] So glancing, when we glance at things, we are so focused on the future ahead of us that we're not really paying attention to those things.
[00:55:10] I mean, we glance at them.
[00:55:11] It's kind of like when you're in the car, headed somewhere, you're passing the world by.
[00:55:17] Because you're trying to go to the future, to somewhere out there.
[00:55:22] And all of those habits that we are trying to do the next thing, the next thing, our commitments, our next email, our next text, our work projects, our family commitments.
[00:55:34] And the world's just whizzing by us.
[00:55:37] We're just glancing at it.
[00:55:38] He says, here's another way of looking, and that is glaring.
[00:55:43] And when you glare at something, you are looking at it, but you're giving it not a very good positive attention, right?
[00:55:52] When you glare at someone, I know you've all been glared at before, right?
[00:55:55] You're bringing some energy and some emotion, oftentimes angry.
[00:55:59] He says that this is the breeding ground for resentment.
[00:56:03] Think about social media.
[00:56:04] He says, it's great for this.
[00:56:05] I mean, you know, you find somebody who's angry and they're angry at the same things that you are and you watch that thing, guess what?
[00:56:13] The algorithm's going to spit it right back to you another way so that you can be more angry.
[00:56:18] You could be angry all day long, right?
[00:56:21] Puts this emotional hook in you and you glare, glaring.
[00:56:26] You're stuck in a cycle of rumination and unhelpful thoughts.
[00:56:30] You're getting caught up in all these things that are out of your own control, right?
[00:56:34] when we glare at things we know about that and we stuck stuck about the past so glancing is about being overwhelmed by the future glaring about the past and then he says gazing gazing is looking at
[00:56:53] the world with a deep attention not ignoring it with a gaze with a with a glare but instead a sustained gaze, fully present with one thing, deeply present, attention, and it's all in the present moment.
[00:57:15] He uses this as a practice for spirituality.
[00:57:17] In the very present moment, to try to stay right there where you are, not to go far ahead, not to look back, and to be aware of the presence, with a big capital P, of the divine,
[00:57:31] or at least another person.
[00:57:35] Marge Piercy has a poem I love where she says, attention is love, right?
[00:57:40] It's what we give our family, our pets, our plants.
[00:57:44] We give it attention.
[00:57:46] It is our way of showing love.
[00:57:50] And whatever you can't bless, she says, then get ready to make it better.
[00:57:56] Pick up a shovel.
[00:57:59] A deep breath can help in this whole idea.
[00:58:03] Just stop what you're doing.
[00:58:04] You could do it inside, but it's better if you go outside.
[00:58:07] You know, go out and suck up some pollen right now, right?
[00:58:10] Go out there, take a big, deep, cleansing breath, and open your eyes, and just try to look at creation itself and to marvel at it, the intricacy that you can see within a simple leaf,
[00:58:26] the vastness of the cosmos and the stars at night.
[00:58:30] be filled with wonder at how much creation works well together.
[00:58:38] And maybe while you're doing that, by accident, you can receive a blessing from the resurrected Jesus because Jesus is out there breathing on all of us.
[00:58:50] Did you know that when you breathe in some of your breath, molecules in that breath belong to almost every human that has ever lived?
[00:59:00] That's right.
[00:59:01] You're breathing the same air that Adolf Hitler did and Jesus Christ.
[00:59:10] Take a deep breath and maybe the blessing of the resurrected Christ will breathe on you and maybe you'll hear it in a bird, hear it in the sound of a moving water.
[00:59:26] Maybe you'll hear these words, peace be with you.
[00:59:33] In the name of our creator, our sustainer, and our redeemer.
[00:59:37] Amen.
[00:59:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:59:51] Y'all stand if you're able and sing one more with us.
[01:00:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:00:04] And darkness tries to roll over my bones to steal the joy I know.
[01:00:16] Darkness and pain is all I know.
[01:00:20] I won't be shaken.
[01:00:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:00:28] Instead of shame and shame.
[01:03:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:03:15] The peace of Christ be with you all.
[01:03:18] Yeah, thank you.
[01:03:19] I needed that.
[01:03:20] So, be not afraid.
[01:03:23] This is what the angels say.
[01:03:24] This is what Jesus says in His return.
[01:03:27] So, tell us once again.
[01:03:28] say it to yourself so that you can stand in Christ's love and be a witness to it. So go out in the world because there's a lot of love falling from the trees for you to suck up in a big breath
[01:03:39] and just know that you are a part of that creation and celebrate it and find some ways for yourself to care for it.
[01:03:49] We go with God who goes with us in the name of our creator, our sustainer and our redeemer. Amen.
