Central Christian Church(Disciples of Christ)

At the annual meeting on June 6, 2010, an extremely significant
motion will be placed on the floor for our consideration; it affects
the present membership, all potential future members, and the
future of Central. The motion will be for the contracting for a
schematic (conceptual) design to renovate our sanctuary and
narthex. Your Sanctuary Study Committee and your Executive
Board recommends that this motion be passed as a step in order
to fulfill our mission as a congregation. If the first vote passes, a
second vote by the congregation will decide whether or not to
perform the renovation. Q&A sessions will be held:

Sunday, April 25th at 2:00 p.m.
Monday, April 26th at 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, May 5th at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 13th at 7:00 p.m.

Following the resurrection, Jesus appeared first to the women, then to the disciples and finally to Thomas, who was the last to see Jesus and the most unsure about the whole thing. When Jesus confronted Thomas, he said to him, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” In other words, blessed are those who believe even though they have no objective evidence. Blessed are those who believe – for in believing they will see.

It’s amazing what a difference believing can make in how we see and relate to the world. How many times have we heard stories of horrible things happening right under the noses of people who should have known better, but who simply couldn’t believe something like that could ever happen in their family or neighborhood. So they just didn’t see it. In WWII, when the United States started receiving intelligence reports that Hitler was systematically exterminating Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and others the Nazis considered sub-human – many Americans simply couldn’t believe it. In fact, there are people around today who still deny the Holocaust ever happened.

The point is, sometimes seeing is not enough. People often say, “Seeing is believing.” We even have a state that made that sentiment its motto – Missouri, the Show Me State. Of course, sometimes (like Thomas) when we see we do believe.

In the case of the Holocaust, when American soldiers finally came upon the death camps and found the smoldering ovens and the huge mass graves, they did believe. But I think that more often than not, it is probably more accurate to say, “Believing is seeing.” In other words, sometimes before we can really see and understand something, our belief system has to be in place. If we don’t believe it – we might never see it.

What we believe makes a difference. The wrong perspective is imprisonment – the right perspective is empowerment. Belief can either bring power and freedom to our lives, or it can build walls around us that separate us from everybody – even God.

What difference do you suppose it would make if you lived each day with the belief that God is seeking to do something important through your life? Do you think you might begin to see everything from a different perspective? Or what difference would it make in the way you lived your life if you started believing God loves everyone and wants the same from you? Or finally, what difference would it make if you believed Jesus rose from the dead, defeating death and evil forever, and that he can also raise you to new life? Try it and see! Or, as Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Believing is seeing!

Sunday, April 25th is Youth Sunday. Our youth will lead our Morning Watch and traditional service. Please join us in this annual tradition of our youth leading us in message, scripture and prayer.

Edwin Markham, the famous poet, once wrote these words regarding his experience of God:

I made a pilgrimage to find our God:
I listened for his voice at holy tombs,
Searched for the print of his immortal feet
In [the] dust of broken altars; yet turned back
With empty heart. But on the homeward road,
A great light came upon me, and I heard
Our God’s voice singing in a nestling lark;
Felt his sweet wonder in a swaying rose;
Received his blessing from a wayside well;
Looked on his beauty in a lover’s face;
And saw his bright hand send signal from the sun.

Markham’s search for God included holy tombs and ancient altars only to find God on the homeward road — in the
everyday things of life.

At Easter, we are reminded the Risen Lord is not always revealed to us in ways we might expect or anticipate. The Angel tells the women, “He is going before you to Galilee…” Galilee was home, but Galilee was also on the fringe. It was a long way from Galilee to Jerusalem, in more ways than one. It was called “Galilee of the Gentiles” by the Jews, because in Galilee, Jews and Gentiles lived side by side. In other words, Galilee wasn’t a very kosher place to live. But it was where Jesus chose to go first. Not to Jerusalem — to the home of the Temple, but to dirty old, unkosher Galilee.

It was there the first people heard the witness of the women and the disciples that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and it was there the story continued. I would like to add it is still in dirty old unkosher Galilee the story of the Risen Christ continues.

To me this is one of the clearest messages of Easter: the Risen Lord comes to meet us in the midst of everyday life. Sometimes Jesus appears very subtly, like to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and sometimes, a little more directly – like the time he appeared to Saul on his way to Damascus. Either way, Jesus comes to us where we live.

Whenever we discover the holy in the daily routine of life – whenever we see behind the facade of life to the amazing presence of God all around us, we are confronted by the Risen Lord. Whenever the hungry are fed and the naked clothed, life triumphs over death and the Risen Christ is revealed. Whenever the fearful are comforted and the lonely
befriended, life triumphs over death and the Risen One is made known. Whenever the shamed are forgiven and the guilty find grace, life triumphs over death and the Risen Lord is present in the midst of them. This is why we gather to worship and celebrate – on Easter Sunday, and every Sunday.

Easter is about discovering the Risen Lord in places where you would never think to look — on a cross, in an empty tomb, in Galilee — even in your own life. The Easter story never ends, it never has and it never will. We are simply the latest to receive its Good News and the latest to share it. Let’s make sure the chapter we are writing is one worth passing on.

I am writing this week’s column on the first day of Holy Week. There is a lot yet to come. There is the betrayal of Thursday night – and the trial through the night and into Friday morning). On Friday, we remember Jesus’ crucifixion and death. It’s very important we not skip over these parts of Jesus’ story. As much as we might want to jump ahead to the joy of Easter morning, we must also remember the events that led to it.

As Christians, we certainly need to understand the incredible power of death and evil. We can never bury our heads in the sand and pretend they’re not there. The gift of the church to the world is not an appreciation for the power of death, but rather the power of the Risen Christ to transform death and evil into something new and beautiful.

One of the reasons getting that message across to the world is so difficult is that death and evil abound in such loud and obvious ways. Just this morning I heard about deadly terrorist bombings in Moscow and the arrests of potential domestic terrorists in Detroit. Evil blares and blazes. Resurrection whispers.

It’s like a wildflower blooming in the midst of a burned out forest. We must constantly search for signs of it. Or, as the Psalmist enjoined, “Be still and know that I am God.”

The world already understands the power of death. The job of the Church is to trumpet resurrection from the rooftops loudly and proudly and boldly. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and all the powers of death and hell cannot prevail against him!

This Holy Week we will solemnly remember Jesus final week in Jerusalem. We will remember his last supper with his disciples, Judas’ betrayal, and finally, Jesus’ death. But on Easter we will revel in the new life and joy that pushes aside darkness and death. We will baptize believers into Christ’s life. We will smell the fresh scent of lilies, lift our hearts in prayer, and celebrate and praise God for Christ’s resurrection (and our own!). The world is filled with darkness and death. Come and celebrate life, love and joy. Come and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!

Good Friday, a day of terrible suffering and sacrifice, a day of crucifixion. On Good Friday we ask you to take the time to recollect He who bore His crown of thorns willingly, arose from the dead and defeated death that we might have eternal life. The sanctuary will be open from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. for anyone who would like to come and spend quiet time in meditation and prayer.

Maundy Thursday, also called Holy Thursday, commemorates the evening just before the crucifixion when Jesus and his disciples broke bread together for the Last Supper. It was at this Last Supper that Jesus instituted the Eucharist or what we call communion. Central Christian welcomes all to come in remembrance of Him, to share this Holy Thursday with us on April 1st at 7:30 p.m., as we presents “The Living Tableau,” an performance of the Last Supper. Come see the fathers and sons of our church retell the words of the 12 disciples the evening just before the crucifixion.

When I think about Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem, I am always amazed at his courage. Sure, there were those who welcomed him as a king on that Palm Sunday. But even his most vocal supporters didn’t really understand yet what it meant for Jesus to be the promised Messiah. And everyone else either didn’t care or actively wanted Jesus dead. I’ve never been too sure “triumphal” was the best word to describe Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem.

Now, jump ahead 2000 years. Who does Jesus find when he rides into town on Palm Sunday 2010? Well, things have gotten a bit more complicated over the years, but “the more things change, the more things stay the same.” We’re just as confused today as they were then. Only this time, instead of a few confused disciples and a handful of angry Pharisees, Jesus will find atheists and agnostics, secular humanists and scientific creationists, protestants and Catholics, and liberals and conservatives… just to name a few. Is it any wonder Luke tells us when Jesus drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, “Would that even today they know the things that make for peace.”

Knowing the ignorance and anger present (just among his own disciples!), who would have blamed Jesus if he had chosen to walk away from it all? But, of course, he didn’t. That’s the whole point.

Jesus rode right into the middle of all of that confusion and violence just as he does today. He could do this because his purpose went beyond all of the power plays of the people around him. He rode in as a king, but a king unlike anything his disciples had ever imagined. He didn’t find his victory in the praise of his followers or in the power he had to influence them, but in complete obedience to the will of God.

Luke tells us when Jesus finally got into the city, the Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke his disciples, presumably for all of the excitement and disruption they were causing by their celebration. Jesus’ response to the Pharisees at this point marks the powerful climax of the story. He says, “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Having been to Israel, I can tell you Jerusalem is a very stony place!)

This Sunday, we remember Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem on the first day of what would later be celebrated as Holy Week. We will join our voices – with the stones if necessary – in bringing praise and honor to the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. See you there.

A new book study led by Larry Merkle will start this Sunday at 9:00 a.m. You will be discussing John Shelby Spong’s Eternal Live: A New Vision: Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell. According to the Publishers Weekly review, the book “provides a lucid historical analysis of the development of human religious though from the onset of selfconscious awareness to the present, and a compelling argument for the creation of a new religious paradigm… Arguing that modern scientific understanding necessitates dismissing outdated metaphors and assumptions by which faith seeks to calm human anxiety, Spong suggests an understanding of God not as a person, but as the process that calls personhood into being. … This work … offers new insights into religion’s big questions about life and death ….” It is available from amazon.com for $16.49 and from other major booksellers for comparable prices. For more information about this study contact Larry Merkle.

I love my dogs, but there are days…

Most recently, I suspect that one of them has figured out how to open the back door. It’s not easy, but it is do-able. When I came home from church on Saturday evening, I had a message from the Oakwood police informing me my dogs were outside barking and my door was standing open. Fortunately, they were kind enough to get them back inside and shut the door for me. Someone with a little less patience might have been less gentle with my canine companions. The next day, the same thing happened again.

There is one thing I have learned about dogs (which holds true for pretty much any animal): they don’t have a tremendous amount of self-control. They can be trained to behave in certain ways – but if they know there is fresh garbage in the compost pile next door, they aren’t above opening the door when I’m not home to go and check it out.

Self-control and self-consciousness are not traits normally associated with animals. Unfortunately, they are traits that often rare in human beings, as well. Too often we act like water coursing down a hill and take the path of least resistance. In the face of temptation, we allow our baser, animal cravings to win the day. In times of trial, we give up rather than go on. In times of change, we drop out rather than face new situations or people with whom we may not be comfortable. In times when we are offended or hurt, we choose to nurse our anger rather than forgive.

You’ll never see water go uphill or up and over a barrier; it finds the easiest way through and continues on its way to the lowest possible location. Christians, on the other hand, are sometimes called to move against the grain. We are called to “fix our eyes on Jesus” and to keep moving in that direction no matter where it might take us or what obstacles might stand in our way.

Therefore, if we are too comfortable with our faith or service – if there is no place where we are experiencing some tension or growing pains – then that probably means we are moving in the path of least resistance. It becomes our default position, because it’s what comes most naturally. But, to experience harmony with God, it is simply not good enough.

During this Lenten season, it is my prayer that we all try to stretch ourselves a little more in whatever ways God is calling. It might mean deepening our spiritual life or reactivating our membership in the church. It might mean moving toward a more committed stewardship or forgiving someone who has hurt us. In whatever ways God is calling, let us follow in courage and faith that we may grow more into the fullness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.