St. Johns Bowmanville
  • Home
  • Services & Sermons
    • Nov 1, 2020
    • Oct 25, 2020
    • Archives >
      • July 2020 >
        • July 26, 2020
        • July 19, 2020
        • July 12, 2020
        • July 5, 2020
      • June 2020 >
        • June 28, 2020
        • June 21, 2020
        • June 14, 2020 - Trinity Sunday
        • June 7, 2020 - Trinity Sunday
      • May 2020 >
        • May 31, 2020 - Pentecost
        • May 24, 2020 - 7th Sunday of Easter
        • May 17, 2020 - 6th Sunday of Easter
        • May 10, 2020 - 5th Sunday of Easter
        • May 3, 2020 - 4th Sunday of Easter
      • April 2020 >
        • Easter Sundays 2020 >
          • Basic Morning Prayer for Easter
        • Apr 26, 2020 - 3rd Sunday of Easter
        • April 19, 2020 - 2nd Sunday of Easter
        • Apr 12, 2020 - Easter Sunday
        • Easter Vigil 2020
        • April 10, 2020 - Good Friday
        • Holy Week 2020
        • April 5, 2020 - Palm Sunday
      • March 2020 >
        • March 29, 2020 - Morning Prayer
        • March 22, 2020 Morning Prayer
        • March 17, 2020
        • Morning Prayer Basic
        • March 15, 2020
        • March 8, 2020
        • March 1, 2020
      • February 2020 >
        • Feb 26, 2020
        • Feb 23, 2020
        • Feb 16, 2020
        • Feb 9, 2020
        • Feb 2, 2020
      • January 2020 >
        • Jan 26, 2020
        • Jan 19, 2020
        • Jan 12, 2020
        • Jan 5, 2020
      • December 2019 >
        • Dec 25, 2019
        • Dec 24, 2019 >
          • 3:30 PM
          • 7:30 PM
        • Dec 22, 2019
        • Dec 15, 2019
        • Dec 8, 2019
        • Dec 1, 2019
      • November 2019 >
        • Nov 24, 2019 >
          • Bishop Riscylla Shaw
          • Lucia's 8 AM Sermon
        • Nov 17, 2019
        • Nov 10, 2019
        • Nov 3, 2019
      • October 2019 >
        • Oct 27, 2019
        • Oct 20, 2019
        • Oct 13, 2019
        • Oct 6, 2019
      • September 2019 >
        • Sep 29, 2019
        • Sep 22, 2019
        • Sep 15, 2019
        • Sep 8, 2019
        • Sep 1, 2019
      • August 2019 >
        • Aug 25, 2019
        • Aug 11, 2019
        • Aug 4, 2019
      • July 2019 >
        • July 28, 2019
        • July 21, 2019
        • July 7, 2019
      • June 2019 >
        • June 23, 2019
        • June 16, 2019
        • June 9, 2019
      • May 2019 >
        • May 26, 2019
        • May 19, 2019
        • May 12, 2019
        • May 5, 2019
  • New To St. Johns
    • Our Minister
  • The Latest
    • Church Calendar
    • St. John's Stories
  • Contact Us

Second Sunday of Easter
April 19, 2020
(Service, Prayers and Lucia Lloyd’s sermon is located below)

April 19 Second Sunday of Easter_Morning Prayer
File Size: 464 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


​Lucia Lloyd’s Sermon: Do not doubt, but believe
2nd Sunday of Easter, Year A
​April 1, 2020
​​John 20:19-31

I have often wished that I had more faith.  Have you ever felt that way too?  Maybe you see other Christians around you whose faith seems so solid and you secretly envy them and think, what about me?  Why can’t my faith be that strong too?  Or maybe you have gone through ups and downs, times when your faith seemed sure, and other times when you thought maybe the whole Christianity thing was just something people made up.
           
I wonder whether Thomas had those feelings.  He’d been spending all his time with Jesus and the disciples for years.  He’d experienced God’s love.  He’d been excited about it.  But then Jesus did more and more things that were hard to accept.  Jesus started moving toward the crucifixion.  Doubts set in.  Things were not working out right.  Bad things happened to good people. He wondered whether Jesus didn’t have the kind of power he’d thought.  He wondered whether Jesus was just a great moral teacher, nothing more.  He’d stood by hopeless and helpless as everything fell apart.  Probably he felt betrayed.  He’d watched his hopes be crushed in humiliation.  Maybe he felt there was no point in sticking around to see the final agony, to watch his hope bleed away on that cross.
           
Maybe that lost hope was why he was not with the other disciples on Easter evening.  Maybe he was embarrassed by them, the way we are embarrassed when Christians act like fools in the public eye.  We don’t want to be associated with them, and maybe Thomas didn’t either.  Maybe Thomas left in an attempt to salvage a tiny bit of pride.
           
And when he came back, everything had changed.  “We have seen the Lord!” they all said.  I wonder whether that experience felt to Thomas like the final humiliation.  Did Thomas think, “Jesus has given this experience to the other disciples, and not to me!  What about me?  Why didn’t I get that gift?”  And then humiliation turned to rejection, as it often does.  He would not dare to hope.  He would not be hurt again.  He would not be made a fool of again.  He would not believe again.  Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.  I will not.
           
But despite it all, Thomas came back to be with the disciples on the Sunday after the Resurrection, low Sunday.  He did not run away.  He did not find someone else to distract him from that flickering hope that maybe Jesus could do the impossible.  Thomas came back to be with the disciples on low Sunday, just as you have.  And I suspect the reason he came back was that deep down, underneath the “I will not believe” statement, he wished he had more faith.  All Thomas does is show up.  God does the rest.
           
​God is humble.  God does not wait until we have a great faith before God acts in our lives.  Thomas has abandoned him at the crucifixion, and then responded to accounts of the resurrected Jesus with the words, “I will not believe.”  God is so humble that God is willing to take whatever wish for more faith we have, and meet us there.  God is not afraid to be made a fool of again.  God is not afraid to be hurt again. God holds out the hands that we have wounded, and invites us to touch those wounds.  If we wish for more faith, God welcomes us with the simple invitation, “Do not doubt, but believe.”  God is so humble he gives us the grace to respond, “My Lord and my God!”
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Services & Sermons
    • Nov 1, 2020
    • Oct 25, 2020
    • Archives >
      • July 2020 >
        • July 26, 2020
        • July 19, 2020
        • July 12, 2020
        • July 5, 2020
      • June 2020 >
        • June 28, 2020
        • June 21, 2020
        • June 14, 2020 - Trinity Sunday
        • June 7, 2020 - Trinity Sunday
      • May 2020 >
        • May 31, 2020 - Pentecost
        • May 24, 2020 - 7th Sunday of Easter
        • May 17, 2020 - 6th Sunday of Easter
        • May 10, 2020 - 5th Sunday of Easter
        • May 3, 2020 - 4th Sunday of Easter
      • April 2020 >
        • Easter Sundays 2020 >
          • Basic Morning Prayer for Easter
        • Apr 26, 2020 - 3rd Sunday of Easter
        • April 19, 2020 - 2nd Sunday of Easter
        • Apr 12, 2020 - Easter Sunday
        • Easter Vigil 2020
        • April 10, 2020 - Good Friday
        • Holy Week 2020
        • April 5, 2020 - Palm Sunday
      • March 2020 >
        • March 29, 2020 - Morning Prayer
        • March 22, 2020 Morning Prayer
        • March 17, 2020
        • Morning Prayer Basic
        • March 15, 2020
        • March 8, 2020
        • March 1, 2020
      • February 2020 >
        • Feb 26, 2020
        • Feb 23, 2020
        • Feb 16, 2020
        • Feb 9, 2020
        • Feb 2, 2020
      • January 2020 >
        • Jan 26, 2020
        • Jan 19, 2020
        • Jan 12, 2020
        • Jan 5, 2020
      • December 2019 >
        • Dec 25, 2019
        • Dec 24, 2019 >
          • 3:30 PM
          • 7:30 PM
        • Dec 22, 2019
        • Dec 15, 2019
        • Dec 8, 2019
        • Dec 1, 2019
      • November 2019 >
        • Nov 24, 2019 >
          • Bishop Riscylla Shaw
          • Lucia's 8 AM Sermon
        • Nov 17, 2019
        • Nov 10, 2019
        • Nov 3, 2019
      • October 2019 >
        • Oct 27, 2019
        • Oct 20, 2019
        • Oct 13, 2019
        • Oct 6, 2019
      • September 2019 >
        • Sep 29, 2019
        • Sep 22, 2019
        • Sep 15, 2019
        • Sep 8, 2019
        • Sep 1, 2019
      • August 2019 >
        • Aug 25, 2019
        • Aug 11, 2019
        • Aug 4, 2019
      • July 2019 >
        • July 28, 2019
        • July 21, 2019
        • July 7, 2019
      • June 2019 >
        • June 23, 2019
        • June 16, 2019
        • June 9, 2019
      • May 2019 >
        • May 26, 2019
        • May 19, 2019
        • May 12, 2019
        • May 5, 2019
  • New To St. Johns
    • Our Minister
  • The Latest
    • Church Calendar
    • St. John's Stories
  • Contact Us