Where is Jesus Sending us Now? - April 12, 2015

John 20:19-25

Some of you knew Malcolm R, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Idaho who died about a year ago. Malcolm and his wife Carol were long time members of First Presbyterian Church here in Moscow. It might have been otherwise. Malcolm used to tell me how as a young, married couple, in another state (New Jersey, I think) they set out to find a church. The first one they tried was a Methodist Church, but when they got there the doors were locked. So they went down the street to the Presbyterian Church. They remained Presbyterian for the rest of their lives.
In our reading this morning from the Gospel of John, the risen Jesus appears to the disciples. They were meeting behind locked doors for fear of the religious leaders who had crucified Jesus.

Their fear is understandable. Jesus had died a horrible death. As his followers, these people might have been subject to the same treatment. No one could know for sure if the people who had set out to kill Jesus would be content to stop there or if the persecution would spread to his followers.
To add to that, Mary Magdalene had reported that Jesus had risen from the dead and she had seen him. We know from the Gospel of Luke that some of the disciples were confused by such news. The fear that sent these disciples behind locked doors could well have been due to their confusion about Jesus' resurrection.
Jesus' follower's today struggle with the temptation to stay behind locked doors. Sometimes it is something as obvious as remembering to unlock the front door of the church.
Often it is not the physical doors that are the problem but the attitude of those within. It is easy to focus internally. After all, we need to pay our bills and to care for our own members. It is usually pretty easy to raise money to replace the furnace or to fix the clock tower. It is a lot harder to come up with money to support the Annual Conference Ministry Fund Drive to start new churches somewhere else. There's no controversy when the pastor goes to the nursing home to visit parishioners. Pastors who spend their time at protest marches or making the rounds of the bars on Friday night raise a lot of eyebrows.
For many decades, churches have operated on what is called the attractional model. Another way to put it is, "Build it and they will come." In other words, if we have a beautiful building and great programs, we will attract people to our church. And it is true that people stop by because they are curious about our beautiful building. Churches with broken windows and out of date nurseries certainly do not appeal to folks looking for a new church. Beautiful choirs and vibrant programming for children and youth do draw folks to our church. I'm proud and pleased to say we have both.
The locks on the doors where the frightened disciples huddled could not keep Jesus out. He came and stood among them, "Peace be with you," he said. His words may have been a standard greeting of that day. John gives it to us in Greek, which is eirene, though Jesus likely used Aramaic or Hebrew, both of which are Shalom.
More than a standard greeting, peace in the Gospel of John is a gift of Jesus. It is a gift not simply of tranquility between nations or among people, it is the security of knowing God's presence even in the middle of turmoil and fear. This peace does not allow them to stay in the safety of the locked room. Jesus says, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And then he breathed on them, saying, "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."
The disciples could stay as disciples. They had to become apostles. There's a distinction most of us miss. Disciple means student or follower. For perhaps three years these people had lived with Jesus. They had heard him teach and seen him live out God's grace in the world.
Those of us who love to learn are tempted to remain as students. While it is a good thing to be a lifelong learner, discipleship must eventually become apostleship. Apostle means one who is sent. Discipleship can be a safe thing. Disciples can stay behind locked doors, curled up in the library or stationed behind the computer screen. Apostleship is scary. It means walking out of the library, away from the computer screen, and out of the church building. It means walking into a world which questions our beliefs, resists our wisdom, and challenges our very being.
The attractional model of church no longer works as well as it did in the 1950's. Instead we must use the incarnational model of church. Incarnation, as you may remember, means "in the flesh". God came among us as one of us in Jesus. God took on human flesh. God became incarnate.
The incarnational model of church is really all about disciples becoming apostles. As Easter people we are sent out into the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
As Jesus commissioned the frightened disciples to become apostles, he also empowered them by breathing into them the Holy Spirit. Just as God breathed into Adam the breath of life so that he became a living being, so now Jesus breathes into the disciples to recreate them as apostles. He gives them a specific task – to carry God's forgiveness into the world. "If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any they are retained."
What an awesome and amazing responsibility! We cannot embody God's forgiveness by staying safely inside the walls of this church. To carry God's forgiveness into the world we must live in the world, building relationships with people near and far.
This weekend, Tommy's Tinkler's hand bell choir is in North West Washington state on their mission trip. They have become apostles, sent out from our church. They played Friday evening at Wesley Homes Retirement Center in Auburn, Washington. Last night they played a concert in Port Townsend and this morning they are at Trinity United Methodist Church in Sequim.
Each March our Tweens select a mission project that extends our ministry elsewhere. This year they chose Health Kits to be distributed by the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Those kits go all around the world, from Algeria to Zimbabwe. Twice we have sent teams of adults to the UMCOR-West Depot in Salt Lake City which collects such kits and then sends them out as needed.
Over the years this church has collected money for necessary remodeling projects. As a result we have a well cared for building that is a great tool for ministry. I'm glad we welcome community groups into it. And I am proud that we have raised 67% of our goal for the Annual Conference Ministry Fund Drive so that we can help to start new faith communities and revitalize struggling ones. Our next goal is to hold a community wide 5K run/walk to raise money for Imagine No Malaria. We'll work with our friends at Simpson United Methodist Church in Pullman to do that. A few of you have agreed to be on the organizing team. If you'd like to help, please let me know.
Part of my dream for such a run is not only to raise money to eradicate malaria, but to reach out to our community, specifically those who like to run, and to show the community what the United Methodist Church is doing. I want us to be apostles by extending our ministry beyond the walls of this building.
Each member of this church is called to be a disciple, to learn from and to follow Jesus. And every disciple is sent out as an apostle – to carry the love of Jesus Christ into the world. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
I wonder where Jesus is sending us now? To the high school students who gather in the north lot to smoke and eat lunch? Some forgiveness will be entailed, because they often leave their trash behind which makes me unhappy.
Are we called to some ministry I can't imagine, up on campus? Or downtown? Or out at Syringa Trailer Court?
I wonder where Jesus is sending us now?