Discover Life, Again: Seeing, John 20:19ff

Commerce Presbyterian Church, GA

Title: Discover Life, Again: Seeing; Rev. C. Craig Topple

John 20:19-31

“It is only with the heart

that one can see rightly;

What is essential is

Invisible to the eye.

• Antoine de Saint-Exupery

In the movie Shawshank Redemption, two prisoners, Andy and Red, both with life sentences, are envisioning what life could be like if they were to be free.  Andy, has big dreams. Beaches, Fishing. But his closest friend, Red, is not able to dream.

Red says he’s been institutionalized. He’s afraid of the outside.

He feels he can no longer dream--especially in the face of the seeming impossibility being set free.  

Andy responds to him, “yeah, it seems impossible, but it comes down to a choice, Get busy living or get busy dying.”

This spirit, “Get busy living or get busy dying” captures our series, Discover Life, Again.  

Our passage from today speaks to the importance of seeing. After his crucifixion, we discover once courageous and devoted disciples of Jesus behind locked doors;

they huddle in hidden spaces out of fear.

Their fate may be similar to that of Jesus.

“If they came after him, what’s to keep them from coming after us?”

They are blind to see any future possibilities.

What finally frees them from their captivity?

The risen Jesus appears in their midst.

They get to see Jesus! And they are set free.

Slide: Freeing people from captivity was a top priority for Jesus.

Look at his mission statement:

bring good news to the poor.

proclaim release to the captives

recovery of sight to the blind,

let the oppressed go free.
 

And, by appearing to the disciples they are free to continue this mission themselves.

They’re all ready to get busy living again, except every time they would try to make grand plans to do so, Thomas would cut in, “Uh, guys. I don’t care how many times you tell me the story. I have to see for myself! And until I do, I’m not going out there.”

Poor Thomas. He had been out running an errand. He missed Jesus coming by.

I envision his insistence on seeing Jesus for himself sounding similar to one of Ruby favorite phrases these days: “That’s not fair!”

The abridged version is: No Fair!

“No Fair,” says Thomas.

A week later, Thomas gets his way.

Slide: Thomas

He sees Jesus, he places his hands in his wounds.

He exclaims in dramatic fashion, “My Lord and My God!”  

He is transformed. And he, too is set free to get busy living.

Seeing Jesus. For the disciples in Jesus’ time, seeing a resurrected Jesus, set them free.

Disciples in this day and age, if we’re honest, we have our fair share of entrapments.

We are huddled behind any number of locked doors. We fear many things.

We struggle for any number of reasons to carry on the co-mission of Jesus.

Would it help us to get busy living if we were to see Jesus? After all, as they say, and as Thomas shows, seeing is believing,  Unless I see, I won’t believe.

Seeing is believing. Seeing Jesus is key to unlocking the door. Seeing Jesus can liberate us!

So, a special surprise this morning, Close your eyes. We want to see Jesus, To reach out and touch him. One the count of three, let’s open them. One, two three!

What? Jesus told me he would be here. No fair. Thomas got his request.

But, it seems disciples for generations after Thomas, have not necessarily gotten ours. Instead, in this scene, in a truly compassionate yet challenging twist, the entire community of believers for generations after Thomas is encouraged by Jesus to think of seeing and believing in a new way.

The sequence can be reversed.

Yes, “Seeing is believing.”  

But there also exists the possibility, “Believing is seeing.”

And, at an even deeper level: “Openness to seeing, is really seeing.”

We see what we want to see.  We see what we expect to see. Quite often, this leads us to seeing what supports our particular world view, our image of ourself, what we think we know to be true.

And we miss really seeing. Look at Mary in the garden who could not see that it was Jesus standing there with her. Look at the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who could not see it was Jesus walking with them.

“Unless we question the unconscious filters that influence the nature of our perception, we may not really see much at all.”  (David Ulrich, referenced below)

Seeing, real seeing, is much more than taking in with our eyes. In fact, eyes are not even necessary to really see.  “every cell, every part of our body is a sensitive receiving apparatus.”

“Seeing comes from within ourselves, not from the vague ‘out there’ of the outer world.” (David Ulrich)

Real seeing is not just about what we see, but how we see what we see.

my teacher, Philip Newell, asks: How do we re-discover our inner sight in order to see ‘the light of life that enlightens every person, every creature, every thing…; as John the evangelist says:” a light deeper than darkness, light that has not been overcome by darkness...”

A holiness at the heart of each living creature…?. (Newell, 3, One Foot in Eden)

Slide:  I want to show you a photograph from a photographer: David Ulrich.

At the age of thirty-three, David Ulrich suffered an impact injury while chopping wood. A small branch, ¾ of an inch, over three feet long with a fractured tip, flew up and struck him directly under his eye. It could have killed him. After 7 hours of surgery--removing the fragments and trying to repair his crushed eyeball and torn retina--he still lost vision in that one eye.

He recalls: “This was my darkest moment of doubt about everything:

How could I have avoided this? Was it just an accident? Was this fate?

When sight wasn’t to return to his eye, he decided to have his eye removed;

but, he made this decision wondering: Will I be able to continue my work?  

More threatening: Would I feel like a complete human being again?

The day of surgery, as he sat in the waiting room, his anxiety rising, not knowing where to turn, he walked to the hospital chapel. After sitting for a time, in depression, fear, despondency like he had never known,  Ulrich says there came a moment of realization, a burst of insight that changed his attitude toward the event and gave him an unshakable sense of courage.

It came from a question which arose within: “If I cannot let go of something as relatively insignificant as one eye, one small part of my body, what will happen when I have to completely let go of my entire body when I die?”

His entire eye was removed. But, his anxiety was transformed into a creative quest;

he saw the injury as the necessary catalyst to propel him to the threshold of a new way of seeing and being in the world.

As he learned to see again, really see, David Ulrich saw life in a new way:

He suggests, learning to really see requires three things;

1. Being present in the moment, and not distracted. Yes, driving and texting is not a good idea.
2. Seeing things as they are, not as we think they should be. Which means,  
3. trying to see things without judgment or labeling, seeing beyond our subjective attitudes and cherished opinions.

(David Ulrich, “Awakening Sight,” Parabola Magazine, Fall 2011).

By seeing in this way, Ulrich says he has learned to see not just the outside of what he is looking at, but also, more profoundly the inside.

Slide: Empathetic Looking

He calls this empathetic looking;

empathy, meaning the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

What happens when we see one another in this way of seeing?  

I see you, meaning, I’m not distracted, but present with you;

I see you, meaning, I’m not projecting my ideals on you, but accepting you for you on your terms, not mine.

I see you, meaning, I’m not judging or labeling you.

I see you, I see the light that enlightens you;

I see you, and I love you.

What happens in our relationships if we see in this way?

Do we discover the presence of Jesus in our midst?

Slide: Sanctuary

A young woman shared with her congregation about a time she discovered Jesus in her midst.

She had grown up and been baptized in the church where she was sharing;

she pointed at the baptismal font, “There, I was baptized there.”

“I don’t remember it; I was a baby, but my father loved to tell me about the day I was baptized, what I was wearing, how I reacted to the water, the people there that day, friends and relatives;

and he would always end the story by exclaiming, “Oh honey, the presence of Jesus was in the church that day!”

“I remember as a child, being restless in worship,” she continued. “I would wonder, ‘Where is the presence of Jesus in this church?’” She pointed to different places in the sanctuary,

“Is Jesus present in the rafters? In the organ pipes? In the stained glass windows?”

Her voice softened, “As many of you know, I lost both my parents in the same week last winter. In the midst of that terrible week, I was driving home from the hospital, having visited my parents, knowing that I might never see them alive again, and I stopped by the church, just to think and to pray.

“I didn’t know Sarah was in the church kitchen, getting ready for a supper.  But, she saw me sitting all by myself in one of the back pews. She knew what was happening in my life, knew about my parents, and she took off her apron and came and sat beside me, holding my hand and praying with me. It was then that I knew where the Presence of Jesus was in this church.”

“Thomas, because you have seen, you believe. Blessed are those who believe but have not seen.”

Or said differently, blessed are those who have not seen, but who can really see, and by really seeing, become a liberating blessing to others in this world.

Yesterday, Ruby was flipping around the house like she always does, and she flipped and landed on top of a wooden doll bed that scraped her back.

She cried of course while Observing her wound; her skin turns really red.  

She was cautioned to be more careful, by her ever so consoling and empathetic father....

After the tears had subsided some, she was examining her injury, again.  

She said, “look Daddy. It looks like a heart.”

“It is only with the heart

that one can see rightly;

What is essential is

Invisible to the eye.

• Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Blessed are those who have not seen, but who can really see, and in doing so discover life, again.

Discover Life, Again: Stories

Discover Life, Again.  Easter Sunday; Rev. C. Craig Topple

Commerce Presbyterian Church, GA

Luke 24:1-12

How many of you went to churches as children which required memory verses?

Can some of you remember these verses? “Jesus Wept,” a popular choice for many of us, outside Lazarus’ tomb.

I remember one I memorized, but I was in college when I took it on. Some of you may know, before attending the North Avenue Trade School, I matriculated at a liberal arts Christian school, similar to Berry College, only far away in the cold north outside of Chicago--Rome, GA has much more hospitable climes.

I lived in a ‘men’s” dorm called Trabor. Third floor. It was a thing to make t-shirts, long sleeved of course. And being good Christian young men, we dutifully inscribed a bible verse on our t-shirts. Sophomore year, the chosen verse: “For they did not believe the women, for their words seemed to them an idle tale (NIV).“

An easy verse to memorize. An idle tale told by women not making any sense.  Boys will be boys.  

When the women returned from the empty tomb suggesting Jesus had somehow been raised from the dead: well, how else can you interpret the story of resurrection, and defeating death?

Certainly an idle tale.

An idle tale we continue to tell, year after year across the centuries. Think about how many preachers are standing up this morning to preach this idle tale this morning.

How many listeners are dressing up, with hats and gloves, easter shoes and dresses, suits and boutonnières even!  gathering for nothing more than to hear an idle tale they’ve heard told before, time and again.

(Portions of what follows is adapted from a sermon by Rev. Dr. Nancy Taylor: A Divine Comedy)

Still, there is something about stories of resilience; stories of the underdogs overcoming all the odds which speak to us in profound and lasting ways. In my house, we read and watch a lot of stories filled with idle tales like these. Last night it was the story of olympic champion gymnast Gabby Douglas who overcame all kinds of odds, starting at birth, when she was placed immediately in Natal Intensive-Care Unit.

   This Jesus story ranks among one of the best.  In the midst of a powerful destructive Roman empire, and an oppressive corrupt religious institution arises a poor peasant with an attitude.

This peasant from Palestine refused to pledge allegiance to the Empire, refused to regard Caesar as a god. He refused to adhere to codes and practices of exclusion and marginalization. He forms a movement to take ‘em on. Pretty awesome! But really, the Jesus movement wasn't mighty, it was tiny. It was not an insurrection, an uprising, insurgency nor a rebellion. It was nothing like that. Jesus and his tiny band of fishermen followers were not armed terrorists plotting a takeover. In fact they carried no weapons to speak of. They planned no kidnappings, no taking of hostages, no coup d’etat. If they even had a manifesto, this is what it was:

love one another. love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. Act with compassion toward others. If someone does you wrong, err are the side of mercy and forgiveness.

Do not judge. Do not worry.

More than seeking the values of the kingdom of the world, instead to seek first a kingdom of justice and righteousness.  This Palestinian peasant taught a better way to be in the world; perhaps reminding people who we are truly created to be. But, only a few followers rallied behind him, most wouldn’t go along with this message.  

If our election cycle in this country demonstrates nothing else, it shows that a majority are only willing to follow the most aggressive and domineering of candidates…

Someone with a platform of love and humility, mercy and forgiveness is not electable…But they are certainly executable . Jesus was executed.  

From the perspective of the Roman Empire, executing a rabble rouser was inconsequential, matter of fact, and routine for them. His message had no power to overthrow. His teachings of a better way than death and destruction; his striving to show a better way of living than through systems of oppression greed and violence; these would be easily forgotten.

Until, until, of all things, an idle tale was told by women. Women, of all people; but, who would believe the women? These women didn’t even see him.  

Instead, they saw two terrifying men in dazzling clothes.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? “Remember, remember what he said!”

The women remembered. Then the men remembered. An idle tale is just that until we remember: This is our story. This is our song.  And we remember.

Remembering is hard to do.  Now that I’m 40--the demyelination process in my brain has begun, meaning, it’s hard for me to remember like I once was able to.  

Even younger ones struggle with memory.

Zia doesn’t remember much from her earliest years…

She doesn’t remember, when she was a baby she would wake up with a smile on her face every morning...well not quite every morning, Trasie corrected me. But, most every morning Zia would wake up with a smile! Cute, but it kind of makes some of us nauseous.  

What was it about a new day that was worth a fresh smile?

A new day for discovery and fun! Solid foods! Avocado!

A new day for excitement and joy - sliding down a slide! Whoo!   

A stick!

Ruby did the same thing.  I’m sure lots of babies do it. It’s almost like we’re programmed to do so as babies.  A new day! Yay!

Until they get older and wiser and realize life is a little more difficult than they were anticipating.

the struggle is a little more than they want to deal with on a daily basis. the day may not greet them in the same way they greet it.

And one day, the smile which once greeted the day becomes flat. One day Wrinkles emerge, One day, hair turns grey.  

• Day in and day out in a thankless job; or we can’t find a job.

- we seek medical assistance and the hospital is more concerned about paperwork and insurance cards than our well-being;

- our bodies fail and frustrate, and as we age society seems to slowly shove us off the road;

- someone close to us betrays us.

- we look back on our lives and wonder what happened to the time[2]  

And beyond our own problems, look at the world!  

• Washington politics, corporate greed, water in Flint.
• Unemployment in some countries above 40%;  
• Suicide bombers in belgium; drone strikes in Pakistan.
• 100 species on earth go extinct every year.[3]

-16,000 children die from hunger-related causes, Every day. …

The powers of darkness and death and destruction are alive and well.  

What has an idle tale told by women of a Palestinian peasant have to do with anything?

...

After he was executed The powerful destructive Roman empire, and the threatened oppressive religious authorities simply thought Jesus and his movement would go away.

Little did they know, an idle tale would be told and remembered.

Apparently, some women in this congregation are telling plenty of nonsensical idle tales month after month.  At the Single and Single again luncheon, some of the dear women sitting among you stand courageously before others and share stories of resilience, life and faith:

My husband left me.

I had to escape an abusive situation

I felt like there was nothing I could do to help my child

I wondered if anyone would be able to love me.

But, somehow, my faith, I remembered, I was able to overcome get to a better place  

Suddenly Light somehow shines through darkness!

Suddenly hope and promise stand a chance against fear and despair!

All of a sudden, In death came life; the worst thing became the best thing; what was to be an end became a beginning. In discovering nothing, they discovered everything.

This nonsensical idle tale of Jesus overcoming death is a story for you and me to remember. It is a story that says in the face of destructive powers, there’s actually another ending possible to this story, one that might just surprise you.

I’m reminded me of another recently viewed children’s story, A little princess: The  severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self-worth.

At one point she warns her: “It’s a cruel nasty world out there, do you understand.”
To which little Sara responds politely, yet defiantely, “Yes, Ma’am, But I don’t believe in it.”

You can leave here today, enjoy a nice lunch, and the rest of your day; The alarm will sound tomorrow morning.   Will it be back to the same ol’ routine, or will the power of this idle tale help you to remember, another story is being lived out in this world. It was told by women who one morning couldn’t find their friend in the tomb where they laid him.

So, they told everyone!  Jesus rose, and he lives. He lives in you when you:

love one another.

love enemies

Show compassion.

If someone does you wrong, er are the side of mercy and forgiveness.

Do not judge.

Do not worry.

Discover life, again!

Winston Churchill said: "Never give up, never give up, never, never, never give up."

Jesus said, I am the Resurrection and the Life; even though you experience death, you will live!

Every morning can be Easter morning; a day to wake up ..smiling. Rejoicing. Celebrating. Why not? Tell jokes: Laugh. Hug. Encourage. appreciate the life you have while you have it. And Let’s watch the world be transformed before our very eyes.

Let’s pray: Gracious and loving God, we thank you for another glorious Easter morning. We arrive here from many varied places, some of us from a place of rejoicing, many of us from a place of difficulty, and we’re doing all we can to hold it together. Wherever we are this morning, I ask that you reveal yourself to us once again. In baptism. In communion. In a hug; in a smile: Call our name, so that we may rediscover the joy of life in you, again.

Discover Life, Again: Passion

Part 2 of John 21
How many have figured out what you wanted to do when you grow up?
What do you want to do when you grow up?
Have any of you figured out what really motivates you, inspires you, gives you energy to spend countless hours working and yet, you’re willing to give more?
Have you found what you're passionate about and following that passion? For those of you who figured it out...awesome. You’re super lucky. For the rest of us... How many of our hours do we spend just watching the clock, watching the weather, watching Oprah reading, people magazine, following tweets, waiting for the next big thing to happen. Is that really living? Is that how you want to live?

Admittedly we get stuck. I mentioned last week: After Jesus’ death, and even after his resurrection and his appearing before them, they seem to be still a little shaken, a little stuck. They return to what they know as they regroup. They go fishing. The disciples had been out fishing all night...
Jesus, apparently, calls to them, “how they biting?” “We ain’t caught a thing.” How many hours of life do we spend with empty nets? Hoping something might come along to provide fulfillment..countless hours of fishing...nothing! And Jesus says, “Cast your nets on the right side of the boat; you’ll find fish there!”
Was this a statement about political persuasions? Ah, I couldn't resist. Basically Jesus is saying: "Hey, if life’s not working for you, try something else. Consider a different approach. Take a little chance. If you're empty over here, cast your nets over there... you have the tools, you have the ability, just hear my voice, make a little change...discover your passion, discover what you love to do, discover life."

Steve Jobs, who's responsible for this thing (iPad), gave an inspiring speech about discovering what he loved to do to young graduates from Stanford in 2005. He says: I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. [starting] Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him.So at 30 I was out.

What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. Jobs remembers, I really didn't know what to do for a few months.... I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. During that period Jobs started two companies, including Pixar - which made Toy Story - And, he says, “I fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife and we would have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple, jobs reflected. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. Your Work [fills] a large part of your life, and the only Way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.

Don't settle with how you’re spending your days if your nets are empty all the time. Life is too short to be fishing with empty nets. for those who have retired you probably need to resist settling more than working folks.. all the world says you're to do is retire, step aside, do nothing....
I'm reminded of what Linkin Newton said frequently, you can't retire from jesus! Jesus' call from the shore--discover life! --Is for everyone! No matter your age, occupation, or ability, all of us, deep down, want our life to be full of meaning, purpose, hope, we want our nets to be full. If things aren’t going your way, maybe just do things a little differently, cast your nets to the other side of the boat..there is life out there! The problem is, of course, how do we know where we need to be fishing? Not only how do we figure out what we’re passionate about; but, even more deeply, how do we discern God’s voice?

Even if Jesus is on the lake shore, shouting to us, jumping up and down, screaming... "The other side! Over there! Look...! all the fish...!" The noise of the waves crashing against the boat; the chatter of the others on the boat... we may not even see Jesus....

There are all kinds of different voices calling you to do all kinds of things, and the challenge is to find out which is the voice of God, rather than that of society, say, or the super-ego, or self-interest. We can waste so much time living someone else's life--doing what others think we should be doing, trapped into living with the results of other people's thinking - aka dogma. How do we keep the noises around us from drowning out what God is calling us to do...?

Frederick Buechner, in a recent blog post, said: By and large a good rule for finding out what God is calling you to do is the following: the kind of tasks God usually calls you to are the kind of tasks (a) that you most need to do--[ what you are passionate about], and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of what you do on a daily basis, you've presumably met requirement (a), but if you sense what you do really doesn’t really amount to much for the good of the world - Buechner suggests for example writing ads for deodorant commercials - the chances are you've missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you've probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you're bored and depressed by your work, the chances are that you've not only bypassed (a), but probably aren't helping your patients much either. “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” (The Place God Calls you To)

We have to pay attention...in here. And then, have the courage to follow that calling.

I love the story of Peace Pilgrim . An amazing activist recently featured on a great program: Peace Talks Radio, which began: “In 1953, Mildred Norman set off from the Rose Bowl parade on New Year's Day walking- the Korean War was still under way, and an ominous threat of a nuclear attack was on the minds of many Americans. And so, with "Peace Pilgrim" written across her shirt, she began walking "coast to coast for peace."
She walked for 28 years. She never used money. She wore the same clothes every day: blue pants and a blue tunic that held everything she owned: a pen, a comb, a toothbrush and a map. "I own only what I wear and carry. I just walk until given shelter, fast until given food," she said. "I don't even ask; it's given without asking. I tell you, people are good. There's a spark of good in everybody."

Her journey to work for peace stemmed from a childhood experience: One night in the late 1930s, "out of a feeling of deep seeking for a meaningful way of life," she began walking through the woods. She recalls, "After I had walked almost all night, I came out into a clearing where the moonlight was shining down. And something just motivated me to speak and I found myself saying, 'If you can use me for anything, please use me. Here I am, take all of me, use me as you will, I withhold nothing,' " Peace Pilgrim remembers: "That night, I experienced the complete willingness, without any reservations whatsoever, to give my life to something beyond myself." The motto Peace Pilgrim had sewn on the back of her tunic when she started out, "Walking Coast to Coast for Peace," quickly became outdated. By 1964 she had already walked 25,000 miles. Eventually, she stopped counting.

In July 1981, Peace Pilgrim was interviewed by Ted Hayes, the manager of a small radio station in Knox, Ind. "Peace Pilgrim, you know, there are a certain number of people who would probably think of somebody like yourself as a kook or a nut," Hayes said. "Well, I'm quite sure that some of those who have just heard of me must think I'm completely off the beam," Peace Pilgrim responded. "After all, I am doing something different. And pioneers have always been looked upon as being a bit strange. 'I shall remain a wanderer until [hu]mankind has learned the way of peace.
Hayes in the interview noted how she appeared to be a most happy woman."
[This response here at Minute 11:17]: "I certainly am a happy person," Peace Pilgrim responded. "Who could know God and not be joyous? I want to wish you all peace."

Peace be with you, Jesus breathed on his disciples. Don’t spend your days wasting time tending to endeavors that leave you empty. ..all of us have today to make life discovering changes if we need to. And as a church community, when we find ourselves engaging activities or aspects of church that aren’t life giving....let’s not waste our time on those things... discernment about the future of this congregation together begins today in just a few minutes.
Keep doing what you’re good at, but if you sense a need to change, Don’t be afraid--Cast your net to one side. And if your passion isn’t there, cast again and if not there, cast again And if you still are coming up empty...maybe it’s time to get off the boat, sit with Jesus a while, Sit, until others who have full nets come to shore and join with them in bringing the catch in...
Seek and ye shall find... If life is not fulfilling...Keep searching...you will find life. I pray it is so, in the name of life giver, the life teacher and the life sustainer. Amen