We Are Children of the Eighth Day, Genesis 2:4-9, 15-17

Posted on April 25, 2024 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered April 21, 2024, Earth Care Sunday, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls

His name was Iron Eyes Cody and to this day, some 54 years later, his image is burned into my mind. He is a Native American fully dressed in leathers slowly paddling his birch bark canoe down a serene river of the likes we have around our beautiful home. As we follow him in his canoe, the river grows larger, more industrial, and now his canoe is skimming over trash that others have left. In a scene that looks like the Hudson River down state in the city, he comes to shore and pulls his canoe onto a trash-hewn waterside. His face slowly pans his surroundings, and we see high smokestacks polluting the air, a trashed river, and cars screaming down a road. As Iron Eyes Cody is watching the cars, some guy throws out a bag of trash that hits at his feet and scatters everywhere. The camera pulls into his his face and as he turns, there is a single tear flowing down his face. A voiceover begins to say, “Some people grew up and have a deep and abiding respect for the natural beauty of our land. Others don’t. People start pollution. People can stop it.”[1] Do you remember seeing that ad?

 I recently pulled it up and watched it again after all these years and though the music is overly dramatic, the image has never left me. Even as a 10-year-old I had the sensibilities to realize the tear coming down Iron Eyes Cody’s face was as much a theological statement as it was a public service announcement for the American Ad Council: Our earth, our water, mountains, the oceans, our rivers are all given to us by God. Humankind in all of its brilliance or cleverness cannot even think of creating such a thing as the Adirondack Mountains. Even Thomas Jefferson described Lake George as the Queen of the American Lakes.[2] This beautiful place we are blessed to call home was created by Someone Other than us. As we will hear from scripture, our home is a gift from a very gracious God. Turn in your Bible to Genesis 2. I am reading verses 4-9 and then 15-17. Listen to the Word of the Lord.

Genesis 1:4-9, 15-17

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.  In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— 7then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’ [3]

Genesis chapter one describes the creation of the Cosmos and the systemic order of the universe. Chapter two begins to zero-in on humankind’s place in that order. Old Testament Scholar, Walter Brueggemann, points out that immediately following this majestic creation story in chapter one, our text from chapter two, “Focuses on human persons as the (both) the glory and central problem of creation.”[4] Brueggemann points out that people are inheritors of God’s gracious gift of creation. Our world is not our making; it’s fully God’s. God places humankind in the world to care for the earth and the creatures in it. “The destiny,” Brueggemann says, “of the human creation is to live in God’s world, with God’s other creatures, on God’s terms.”[5] Whereas out culture has read the first two chapters of Genesis through the lenses of evil/fall/sin/death/sex/murder, at its most basic level, this part of the Bible is talking about relationship: God’s relationship with creation, including ourselves, as well as how we live responsibly as community within God’s creation.

 In verses 4-9, three things quickly happen. God forms a creature from the mud that is entirely dependent upon God. God plants a garden as a good comfortable, nourishing place for humankind to live. Finally, God identifies two trees which provide the framework for humankind’s future relationship with God. And then verses 15-17 further set out the parameters for our relationship with God and with creation.

 Verse 15 shows us God gives us something to do – a vocation. We are asked to till and keep the garden God made. The words ‘till’ and ‘keep’ have subtle meanings as so many Hebrew words do. The word for ‘till’ literally means to be in the service of it. Humankind serves the creation. It can also mean to hold it in adoration as we would in worship.  The word ‘keep’ is not to be taken as a possessive. The word actually means to set a watch over and guard. Those two words sum up our vocation as it relates to God’s creation: You and I are to be of service to the earth and environment and we are its sentinels and have been given the responsibility to guard it.

Verse 16 is another expression of God’s grace to us: We are given permission and freedom to fully engage and enjoy the creation in the garden. This granted freedom to us is then followed up with the setting of a boundary in verse 17: There are two trees in the garden. We can eat from one but not the other. The temptation as readers is to begin focusing on the trees such as, “Why did God put two trees there in the first place if we can’t eat from it?” If that is the line of questioning we take, then we are totally missing the point. You see it’s not about the trees; it’s about our obedience in following God’s prohibition and honoring God’s boundary.

God has given us a job to do and that is serve the land and guard it. We have permission to enjoy the creation and what it provides us. We are also given a boundary not to step over.  Brueggemann goes on to say, “The primary human task is to find a way to hold these three facets of divine purpose together,” i.e. vocation, permission, and prohibition. “Any two of them without the third is surely to pervert life. It is telling and ironic that in the popular understanding of the story, little attention is given to the mandate of vocation or the gift of permission. The divine will for vocation and freedom has been lost. The God of the garden is chiefly remembered as the one who prohibits. But the prohibition makes sense only in terms of the other two.”[6]

Yup. That’s a problem, isn’t it? We see and hear in the story what we want to see and hear in a story. For centuries preachers and teachers have focused solely on the “Thou shalt not eat of the tree” and have entirely glossed over our vocation to serve our environment and guard it. We have read the word “to keep the earth” as to have dominion over it which in our mind is use it up and consume it the way we want to. Look how far that misreading and misunderstanding a biblical text has gotten us.

Prior to moving here last September when I lived in the self-acclaimed, “The Venice of America,” I remember the ocean water off the coast of Fort Lauderdale was consistently reaching over 100 degrees. I remember on April 12th last year 26 inches of rain fell in 18 hours flooding the city. On the days I wanted to do anything in the water around there, I remember having to use an app that reported the fecal coliform in the Venice of America’s canals, waterways, and beaches. All this occurs as a result of our not serving the environment and guarding it.

Look at this winter up here. People cannot sell their snowmobiles fast enough because the winters are getting warmer. The Ice Festival in Lake George is more of a water festival. All this occurs as a result of our not serving our environment and guarding it.

The Environmental Protection Agency has tested a third of the US water systems and have discovered that 70 million people are exposed to toxic chemicals in our drinking water. It’s on pace to indicate that 60% of our nation’s water is contaminated with forever chemicals like microplastics and PFAs.”[7] All of this occurs because it is indicative of our not serving our environment and guarding it.

Years ago, playwright and author, Thornton Wilder, wrote a book entitled, The Eighth Day. Aside from being a murder mystery, the story reflects Wilder’s religious conviction in that it references the biblical story of the seven-day creation of the world. The novel begins when one of the characters, a Dr. Niles, declares, “That the world is in the eighth day of creation when man (sic) is left to continue to make progress.”[8]

Let the irony of that comment sink in a moment.

Beloved, we are the children of the eighth day. God has given us a job to do. God wants us to enjoy the world God created but God has set boundaries for us to follow in doing so.  It’s time for us to start daily doing the job we were given as children of the eighth day. Today, in whatever small way each of us can, let’s live as children of the eighth day and serve the land and guard it as our scripture demands us. In the Name of the One who is, was, and is to come. Amen.

© 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801 and may not be reproduced or repurposed without permission from the author. All rights reserved.

[1] See https://youtu.be/h0sxwGlTLWw?si=gXwqh538E6t1gSy1.

[2] See https://visitadirondacks.com/about/adirondack-lakes#:~:text=Lake%20George%20was%20nicknamed%20%22the,home%20to%20nearly%20186%20islands.

[3]New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org.

[4] Walter Brueggemann, Genesis (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982), 41.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid, 46.

[7] The Guardian, February 20, 2024, “At least 60% of US population may face ‘forever chemicals’ in tap water, tests suggest Federal tests of one-third of water systems find 70 million Americans exposed to PFAS – suggesting 200 million affected overall.” Accessed on April 21, 2024. Please see https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/20/pfas-us-drinking-water-tap.

[8] See article at the T. Wilder Society at https://www.twildersociety.org/works/the-eighth-day/.

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What Story Do Our Scars Tell?, Luke 24:36-48

Posted on April 16, 2024 by patrick h wrisley
Duccio, “Christ Preaches to the Apostles,” ca. 1310 (photo: Public Domain)

Turn in your Bible to Luke 24:36. Now in Luke’s Story, we are joining the action on the first Easter evening. The Story immediately preceding ours this morning is the Story about two forlorn disciples walking home from Jerusalem to their village of Emmaus, some 5 to 7 miles outside of Jerusalem. They had been in the city that day and heard these fantastic tales that some women claim to have seen Jesus alive, and the city was all astir. While they were walking home, a stranger sidles up to them and joins their conversation about all the strange things happening that day in Jerusalem. The stranger begins to open up the scriptures to them so they can understand all that happened to Jesus was already spoken about in the Hebrew scriptures. They reach Emmaus and press the stranger to join them for the evening and as they were eating, the stranger took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, and immediately their eyes were opened – it was none other than Jesus! And then the two disciples immediately went straight back to Peter and the others in Jerusalem and told them they had seen the Lord. This is where we pick up in the action. Listen to the Word of the Lord.

Luke 24:36-48

36While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate in their presence. 44Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,46and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things.[1]

I really want us to try to put ourselves into the narrative; what might have you felt and experienced if you had been there that night?  Luke paints a loaded picture of the scene. Unlike with the two from Emmaus when he gently revealed himself, Jesus just pops in while they are all gathered in this highly charged, deep discussion and more or less says, “Hi y’all!”  He greets them with the traditional Hebrew greeting shalom aleichem which means, “Peace unto you.”

I wonder what happened then? Did the room go quiet? Could you hear a pin drop?  Luke indicates four movements took place. First, the disciples were literally scared to death. Next, the disciples’ fears turn into a combination of utter joy and “I can’t really believe this is happening.” Third, we are told Jesus opens their minds to understand what is going on in light of the Hebrew Scriptures. And finally, the disciples are given a job to do. As I mentioned, Luke has written a tight, loaded scene.

Those gathered that late night are really no different from you or me. They weren’t expecting Jesus to be alive any more than we would have been, and so Jesus had to prove it was really him. What did Jesus do that got them to start believing? He showed them his scars. He let his scars tell the Story of what happened to him.

Our scars tell a story. What story do your scars tell? I can look over my body and see the scars I’ve been accumulating since I was four years old. The scars on my right palm and wrist are so profound that my hand surgeon who did my carpal tunnel surgery asked me about them. I told him that when I was four or five, I was standing on a stool washing the dishes with my mom. In front of the sink was a large window into the backyard and I watched as a neighbor’s dog began attacking our dog. Before my mom could do a thing, I was tearing out of the kitchen into the yard and that’s when the neighbor’s dog took a bite out of my hand and made quite a mess of it.

There’s this scar on my right forearm caused by a hard scrape on some scaffolding I was erecting during one of my college jobs.

Then, I’ve got this scar just to the side of my right eye from the time I went out with a buddy on Christmas vacation from college one year. It was like two in the morning as I was headed home after having too much to drink and spun my 1962 VW Beetle three times before it rolled over as many more times landing between two large oak trees. The car was totaled. I was so fortunate no one else was around that time of night. I was blessed to only have received bruises and a slice along my right eye.

I also have a twelve-inch scar running down over the top of the left knee from where Dr. Frankenstein did a total knee replacement because of sustained sports injuries from when I was younger.

This little bump on my nose is from the two broken noses I got back when I was fighting full-contact martial arts.

My latest are the two slices on both sides in front of my hips from where I had bilateral hip replacement over the last five years. Here, I’ll show you! Ha!

Each of my visible scars tells a story about certain times in my life. Each one describes an event or moment that I can give a full accounting of as well as the lesson learned from the instance it happened.

My hand reminds me never to try to get in between two dogs in a dog fight to break them up.

The bump on my nose reminds me that when in a fight, you must keep your hands up to protect your head because if you don’t, they give you the stupid nickname, The Nose, around the dojo instead of a cool one like Lightening Hands.

The scar along my eye is a vivid reminder that you just can’t fix stupid, and you should never drink and drive.

The knee scar makes me grateful my children never played high school football.

My hip scars daily remind me that your body does get worn down the older you get, and you better take care of it.

So, tell me about your scars? What story do they tell? What lessons have your scars taught you?

And yet, not all scars are visible ones, are they? Some of us have hidden scars no one can see because they are emotional or internal scars. These are scars from physical, emotional, or sexual trauma that were thrust upon us. These wounds are every bit as real as visible scars and yet they are not visible to others. These are scars suffered silently and in isolation.

Years ago, I took communion to a man in his late 80’s who fought in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII. He got caught in a firefight and barely got out of the way of a grenade tossed at him by a young German soldier. Following the explosion, he got his bearings and saw the same soldier shouldering his rifle to finish him off. The man I was visiting shot him first. He told me to go to his dresser and pull out a box for him. He opened it up and carefully unwrapped a piece of dark metal. “This is the shrapnel they pulled out of my leg from that day. Preacher, the person I shot was just a boy! I can’t get the image of his face out of my mind! Will God ever forgive me?” For over fifty years, this man silently carried with him the scars of war he never shared with anyone before, and before he died, he wanted absolution. Who was I to deny that from him?

Pastor/author Josh Scott from Nashville made an astute observation. He said, “Jesus’ scars also tell a story. They paint a vivid picture of a human being committed to a vision of God and God’s kingdom that is just and generous, with an embrace wide enough for anyone and everyone.” Jesus’ scars tell the tale of a man who dared to stand up against the religious, political, and cultural Empire to proclaim all people are precious in God’s sight. His scars tell a story of refusing to be sucked into violence and hatred by taking the hard way of humility and trying to demonstrate life-changing reconciliation through the Cross.  Scott says, “The truth is the scars by which Jesus’ disciples know him encapsulate the very essence of the life he lived that led the disciples to him in the first place.”[2]             

Beloved, the disciples came to recognize Jesus by his scars. It’s when they see and touch the scars their incredulity turns into joyous belief. What do your scars say about you? How have those scarring moments shaped who you are as a man or woman of God? Have the causes of those external or internal scars made you angry, bitter, vindictive? Or have you, like Jesus, redeemed the pain that caused those scars in the first place?

Author Scott Peck’s classic book, The Road Less Travelled, begins with this line: Life is difficult. Life is difficult, isn’t it? As Christians, we realize the antidote to this difficult life is given to us at Easter. God entered into this difficult life, endured its injustices, violence, and hubris, physically suffered, and died – just like you and me. Jesus did not play victim to those injustices, violence, hubris, and suffering, he redeemed them. He chose to reimagine and redefine life and death and provide a path to follow so that we can do the same.

The power of Easter is that it gives us freedom to have born in us a new way of seeing life, no longer as victims but as conquering pioneers. Our Easter faith lets us see and experience our scars afresh, inviting us to make a choice on how we are going to interpret our suffering.  Jesus chose to redefine what it means to live and die and has the scars to prove it. So, each of us gets to choose if our trauma and scars define us or does Easter’s hope and promise redefine our scars. What exactly, is the Story your scars tell? Amen.

© 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801, and may not be reproduced or repurposed without permission from the author. All rights reserved.

[1]New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org.

[2] Josh Scott, “April 14. Third Sunday of Easter”, The Christian Century, April 2024, p 25.

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What Does Doubting Thomas Teach Us?, John 20:19-31

Posted on April 9, 2024 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley on April 7, 2024, the Second Sunday of Easter, Year B

Former foreign secretary of Great Britain, Lord Halifax, once shared a railway compartment with two prim-looking older women. A few moments before reaching his destination the train passed through a tunnel. In the utter darkness, Halifax noisily kissed the back of his hand several times. When the train drew into the station, he rose, lifted his hat, and in a gentlemanly way told the women, “May I thank whichever one of you two ladies I am indebted to for the charming incident in the tunnel.”  He exited the train and left the two ladies glaring at each other wondering what had happened.[1]  

Have you ever felt on the outs of something?  It seems like everyone knows what’s going on and is clued in except you. Well, just imagine how Thomas felt being the only one of the Twelve disciples who did not see Jesus on the first Easter.  For some reason, he was not with the others when Jesus came to the Upper Room that first Easter evening. Turn in your Bible to John 20.19. 

Our text this morning picks up right where we left off last week.  Listen for the Word of the Lord!

John 20:19-31

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” 24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name (NRSV).

Thomas. Poor Thomas.  He’s been ragged on for being the group’s nay-sayer for over 2,000 years.  He’s been given the nickname “Doubting Thomas.”  He’s been held up as the Christian Poster Child for being slow of heart.  This morning, I want us to look at Thomas and gain a deeper appreciation for him and make note that he has something to teach us about our faith.  

Let’s begin with what we know about Thomas. One way to do that is to see how much “airplay” he gets in the scriptures.  He’s mentioned some 11 times, six of which are in John’s gospel.  The first time we meet Thomas is in John 11.16.  Jesus is traveling about, and he is sent word that Lazarus, his dear friend, is terminally ill.  He is talking with his disciples about going to Bethany to heal him and the disciples are arguing with Jesus not to go because they are fearful something might happen to him if he goes back to Jerusalem. During their discussion Jesus…

Told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.  For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.  But let us go to him.”  Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Thomas turns and tells his colleagues, “I’m in!  Let’s go and die so that we might have deep, abiding belief!”  Thomas, it would appear, has the other disciples’ ears. 

The next time we meet Thomas is in John 14.5. This scripture is in the midst of what’s known as John’s farewell discourses extending from chapters 13 through 17. Chapter 14 begins with Jesus talking about the disciples’ beliefs. He says, “Believe in God, believe also in me.” We read in verse three:

And I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you will also be.  And you know the way to the place where I am going.”  Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

It would seem that Thomas is putting to words the question all of us at one time ask, “How can we know the way?”  You know, we teach our kids, “There’s no such thing as a dumb question.”  Well, Thomas adheres to that.  He wants to know.  He wants to poke, probe, handle, turn, and understand everything he can about his faith.  The way to do that is to ask questions. 

The final place we meet Thomas is in John 21.  Seven of the eleven disciples are out fishing.  John lists Peter and then Thomas as second in the Story.  Typically, ancient writers would order names in stories according to the importance that person played in the overall story and community.  In John’s eyes as the author of the gospel, Thomas is seen as vital to the community.  His critical faith has room in the household of Christ-followership and Christianity.

What else do we know about Thomas? We know that his name, “Thomas”, in Aramaic means “Twin.” In Greek, Thomas is Didymus. It’s written like this, “The Twin, also called, The Twin.” The constant reminder of what Thomas’ name means in John’s gospel shouldn’t go unnoticed.  We are reminded over and over again that Thomas is a twin.

It makes me ask what does John want us to see reflected in Thomas?  As I have studied the text, my beloved, I believe he wants us to see ourselves.  Thomas the twin is the reflection, a mirror, of you and me.  We are important to the story.  We are the ones asking the tough questions.  We are the ones who may not always get it but are in the trenches trying to understand.  Thomas, my beloved, is our twin.  He reflects you and Me in three different ways.

First, he shows us that people come to faith in Jesus Christ in different ways.  If you’ll remember, Mary at the tomb believed when she heard Jesus speak her name.  Ten of the disciples believed when they saw the risen Lord.  For Thomas, our Twin, he wants to touch and feel the Risen Christ.  As we see in our story, Jesus honors each of these ways to belief – hearing, seeing, and touching.

People come to know the saving, healing, and restoring Easter power of Jesus in many ways.  For Thomas, it was to be able to touch the wounds. 

For the Apostle Paul, it was a dramatic conversion experience.

For the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts, it was hearing Philip tell the stories of Jesus. 

For Timothy, it was by having his mother and grandmother teach him the faith since his youth. 

For some of you, it may have been while lying on a hospital gurney awaiting a life-saving procedure and you came to see the face of God. 

For some of you, it may have been while you were hunkered down in a foxhole covering your head as enemy fire and tracers were ripping the vegetation up around you. 

For some of you, it may have been while you were at a camp or retreat, and you had time to quietly pray and reflect upon the life of Jesus. 

For some of you, it may have been after years of comparing the Christ-following faith to other faith traditions and realizing that after all those years of searching, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

For others, it may have been while you hammered nails for a Habitat House.

For some of you, it might be you feel the touch of Jesus while you’re gathered in a Bible study.

The point is this:  There is one way to God and that is through Jesus.  How we get to Jesus will be different from one person to the next and that’s okay.

How else does Thomas reflect us? Second, he shows us that it’s okay to ask questions in church.  It was all right with Jesus that Thomas kept asking questions.  We see, though, that Thomas asked those questions in the community of faith.  He and his questions were accepted there.  He was counted as one of the valued disciples even though he always asked the Rabbi the tough questions.  Jesus always left room for the searching disciple to hunt and seek answers in the gathered community.  How else would they learn?  How else might they be changed and empowered by the Spirit of Christ if they weren’t allowed to ask questions?  The Christian faith has withstood the battering of questions for over two millennia.  It beckons people to come and learn.

Third, Thomas reflects us in that he shows us that it’s okay to struggle and wrestle with our faith.   Thomas shows us that doubt and disbelief are not the same thing, and that indeed, a little doubt keeps the edges of our faith sharp as we seek to wrestle God in and through it.  Author Edward Westcott wrote in 1898 a wonderful aphorism. He wrote, “A reasonable amount of o’ fleas is good fer a dog – keeps him broodin’ over bein’ a dog.”[2] Pastor/author/Vermonter the late Frederick Buechner similarly said, “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”[3]

Doubt, my beloved, is not the same as disbelief.  Doubt is not the same as throwing the faith out.  Doubt means wrestling.  Doubt means engagement.  For all of you who have come to me and have said, “Preacher, my life is hard right now.  I have doubts,” I want you to hear that it’s okay!  God invites you to wrestle with the faith – you’re in good company!

Abraham and Sarah wrestled with doubt.

Moses amid the Exodus doubted his mission.  

Judge Gideon kept asking God for sign after sign to make sure God would be with him and the Hebrews in Battle.

King David throughout the psalms raised his hand to God and cried, “Where are you, God?  Have you forgotten your promises to me?”

Mary, Jesus’ very own mother, is to have stood outside where he was teaching and claimed that her son was out of his mind and crazy.  

My friends, Jesus invites you to enter the ring and wrestle with God.  You will be in great company!  God would rather you be in the ring wrestling with your doubts than walking away from the community of believers where the Spirit of God dwells.   Remember, our faith doesn’t grow unless it’s stretched and pulled. Over lunch, talk with those you’re with about those times you have doubted and how it has shaped your faith today. Let us pray…

© 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, New York, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission.  All rights reserved.

[1] Bits & Pieces, May 27, 1993, p. 22.

[2] Edward Noyes Westcott, David Harum: A Story of an American Life, (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1898), 284, as taken from Len Sweet, Homiletics, “Fleas of Faith”, April 18, 1993.

[3] From Brian D. McLaren’s, Faith After Doubt. Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2021), 13.

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The Power of a Name, John 20:1-18

Posted on April 3, 2024 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered on Easter, March 31, 2024, Year B

Rembrandt’s Risen Christ with Mary Magdalene

John 20:1-18

20.1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.[1]

He is risen! (He is risen, indeed!)

Once upon a time a priest, a pastor, and a Rabbi walk into a bar.  They’re good friends and they occasionally get together to decompress from their lives in the parish. The Rabbi asked the two Christian clergy, “Say, imagine you’re at your own funeral and you can see what’s going on around you. You see the people, you hear their conversations, and you can see how they’re acting with your loss.  What would you want people to say about you as they filed past your casket?” Now that’s quite a question, isn’t it? It’s interesting to think about our own funerals and try to guess what people would say.   

Anyway, Father Scott thought for a moment and said, “I’d like to hear them say, ‘Here lies Father Scott, devoted priest and a lovely friend who was there with me in thick and thin.’”

The Presbyterian pastor, Pastor Patrick, says, “I would love to hear my people say, ‘Here lies Pastor Patrick who now rests from his labors as a tireless shepherd of his little flock.’”

Now it was the Rabbi’s turn. He stroked his beard and leaned forward towards his friends.  Raising his right eyebrow with a glint in his eyes he says, ‘I want to hear my people say, “Ah, here lies Rabbi Schwartz…and look!  He’s moving!”

Oh, my friends, the Rabbi is the one who figured out the power of the Christian message and promise:  He is Risen! (He is risen, indeed!). Father Scott and Pastor Patrick would appear to have become too familiar with the Easter promise. You see, their everyday work in the lives of their parishioners – counseling parents on the baptism of their children, running a finance meeting, saying an invocation at City Hall, visiting patients in the hospital, or even simply trying to keep gossip down among church members – all these dalliances of life obscure the real meaning of their purpose and work which is to point others to the hope and promise of what Easter Day is all about! It took the Rabbi to remind them that, “Hey! Look! He’s moving!” or as those in the Christian tradition proclaim, “It’s that He is risen!” (He is risen, indeed!)

This morning, the one issue, the one question that emerges for me from this text is in verse 15:  Woman, why are you weeping? John’s Gospel is silent on why Mary Magdalene ventured out in the dark and came to the tomb that first Easter morning. Other gospels mention her coming with an entourage of others to help give Jesus a proper burial since they were so rushed on Friday evening as Sabbath began. John’s gospel is different in that it doesn’t mention the other women directly except with an obscure “we” in verse 2. It is silent on why she came so early. All we know is that her love and devotion to Jesus caused her to climb out of bed and explore the possibilities awaiting her at the tomb.

What got you out of bed this morning to come here to worship?  Who are you looking for?  What are you looking for?

Peter and the others did not bother to get out of bed. They were not looking for anyone or anything; they were huddled behind locked doors.  When Mary runs to let them know the stone has been rolled away (we don’t know if she realizes Jesus is gone yet as the text is silent), Peter and John, who is also thought to be known as the one whom Jesus loved, ran to the tomb to see if what Mary said was true. John, the faster of the two arrives first but hesitates to go inside.  Peter finally blunders up and charges straight into the tomb.  Peter looks around and sizes things up and is silent. John looks around and sees the evidence of the two sets of wrappings where the body once was. One wrapping was for Jesus’ head and the other was for his body. Peter ponders and John believes…in exactly what, we are not sure what he believes but considering his response in going home as though nothing happened, it would appear that he merely believes Mary was correct: The tomb is empty. Both are appropriate responses. Who are they looking for that morning? A dead Jesus. What they discovered was an empty tomb. And then they do something I never understood very well: They simply went home. They didn’t linger at the empty tomb. They didn’t engage any bystanders asking what might have happened. They just went home.

What got you out of bed this morning?  Who or what did you expect to see?  Peter pondered. John believed in something. Yet, they both simply went home; sadly, many this Easter morning will simply follow their lead and just go home.

And then there’s Mary Magdalene, who in our Story this morning becomes the first apostle, the first ‘sent one’. Her love was too deep.  Her pain was so visceral. It was only after Peter and John left for home did she in her solitude and her heart’s interior castle of tears peered into the tomb and saw it was empty. For the first time, she is asked, “Woman, why are you weeping?” by two angels inside the tomb. At this point in the Story, Mary only knows that Jesus is gone. She seems to be oblivious to her angelic messengers as well because, in most other New Testament accounts, people are falling all over themselves in fear when an angel shows up. Mary, however, is nonplused. She then turns around and walks smack into Jesus himself but again, her sadness is too heavy. For the second time in a matter of minutes, Mary is asked, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”  Once again, Mary is so focused on her own pain that she fails to see Jesus. Thinking it’s the cemetery gardener she pleads, “If you have taken him away, please tell me where!”  And it’s right here that the action grinds to a stop and time is suspended. One arresting word was spoken that penetrated the sobbing woman’s broken heart, grief, and spirit. Jesus spoke her name, “Mary.”

The empty tomb did not cause her to see Jesus.

Seeing the undisturbed grave clothes like John did not penetrate her psyche so that she saw Jesus.

Encountering two angels shining in white did not jar her out of her deep grief so she could see Jesus.

The very resurrected presence of the Lord himself did not help Mary realize what was going on that morning. It was only after God softly spoke her name that the proverbial scales fell from her eyes, and she saw Jesus for the first time.

Mary. Friends, there’s power in a name. If I were to shout out your name in a crowded room, I guarantee you would stop and look around!

Beloved, whom are you looking for this Easter morning? Some of you may be like Peter and John and wish you were still back in bed if it wasn’t for the woman in your life who drug you to church this morning! But even Peter pondered once he arrived there and John saw something that pricked a belief in something larger than himself. I believe that God will use whatever means possible to get us out of bed and face to face with the empty tomb.

Some of you may come this morning and experience something like Peter and you will leave pondering what all this Easter stuff is about. Some of you like John will have an experience where your curiosity in the Lord will be rekindled. But what I really want to urge each of you this morning is to pay attention and listen.  Listen for the Lord to gently speak your name.

Jesus will meet you where you are and speak your name. Jesus will take you in whatever condition he finds you in and will speak your name. Are you sad or depressed?  He’s calling your name.

Are you lonely and despondent?  He’s calling your name.

Are you in pain or are feeling miserable in the midst of your treatments?  He’s calling your name.

Is your life stuck in a professional Groundhog Day where you’re bored sick and hate what you do?  He’s calling your name.

Are you at a critical juncture in your life where you need direction?  He’s calling your name!

Beloved, names are powerful things!  When someone knows your name, they can grab your attention and speak directly to you in the midst of a crowd.  If a person knows your name, there is a conduit for a relationship that’s already there. When a person calls out your name, they are exerting a gentle power over you because they can command your attention and you or I cannot help but listen.

The promise of Easter is that the Great I Am, the God who is, was, and is yet to come, knows each of us by our names! Just think about that, for a moment. If we would be but still enough to listen, we will hear the resurrected Christ speaking to us in the radio transmitter of our hearts, reminding us, “I am with you even now; I got this for you.”

He is risen! (He is risen, indeed!) And let’s add one more thing: this time, say, “He is risen, indeed and calls me by name!”  Happy Easter, Beloved.

© 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame, New York, 12801 and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Why Did You Come to the Parade?, John 12:12-16

Posted on March 25, 2024 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley. March 24, 2024, Palm Sunday, Year B

                  Today, we are attending a parade and just like NBC before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, we are going to first take a backstage look at what is going on before we get to the parade itself. Parades don’t happen in a vacuum and we need to know why our parade this morning was going on in the first place.

                  To refresh our memories, we need to slide back to John 11 and recall what happened there. Jesus was down by the river Jordan with his disciples, and he got word from Mary and Martha that his best friend Lazarus was near death. By the time Jesus made the journey up to Bethany where Lazarus lived, Lazarus had already died and had been buried for four days. Jesus gets chided by sisters Mary and Martha for not getting there sooner to heal their brother and he insists on seeing where they buried him. Jesus comes to the tomb, tells people to remove the stone, and then calls out to Lazarus to come out. Sure enough, Lazarus comes shuffling out of the tomb all bound up with burial clothes. When the crowds saw this, they went nuts. The Mainline religious officials were none-too-pleased about it. We read in John 11:47 that the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and groused, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” It was at this point, that both Jesus and Lazarus had a bounty placed on their head; Jesus because of what he did and Lazarus because he happened to be the recipient of Jesus’ grace.

                  Lest we forget, all this happened leading up to the festival of Passover which required all able-bodied men in Israel to attend in person. Jerusalem and its environs were teeming with all sorts of people and animals. Bethany was just a few miles away from the city and the night before the parade, Jesus and the disciples were having dinner at Lazarus’ home. This is the dinner where Mary washed and anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive oil and was summarily chewed out by Judas Iscariot for spending too much money on the ointment being used. Tensions were beginning to rise both on the inside of the fellowship as well as with the religious and political authorities.

                  The next day, there was no intentional effort to throw Jesus a parade; it kind of spontaneously happened. By this time, people in Jerusalem had heard about Lazarus coming out of his tomb and were thronging from Jerusalem to Bethany to see what really happened. You had the people from Bethany who actually saw Lazarus emerge from the tomb heading to Jerusalem with Jesus. Then, you had the religious pilgrims filing into Jerusalem as well. All these crowds merged into one joyous throng headed to Jerusalem. Amid the crowds were the grumpy religious leaders looking for a way to nip this in the bud.  Let’s pick up in John’s Story with verse 12:12 and following. This morning, I am reading from the J.B. Phillips translation. Listen to the Word of the Lord!

John 12:12-16

                  12-13 The next day, the great crowd who had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem and went to meet him with palm branches in their hands, shouting (lines from Psalm 118), “God save him! ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’, God bless the king of Israel!”

                  14-15 For Jesus had found a young ass and was seated upon it, just as the scripture foretold (in Zechariah 9) — ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt’.

                  16 (The disciples did not realize the significance of what was happening at the time, but when Jesus was glorified, then they recollected that these things had been written about him and that they had carried them out for him.)1

                  This isn’t the first occasion palm branches were waived in honor of a king in Jerusalem. About 160 years earlier, Simon Maccabaeus and his brothers led a resistance fight against one of Alexander the Great’s successors, the Seleucid king, Antiochus. It was recorded that,

On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred seventy-first year, the Jews entered (Jerusalem) with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.2

                  Friends, it’s important to remember that when the crowds were surrounding Jesus and the multitudes of people were sweeping him into Jerusalem, they were celebrating Jesus as the new king who was going to reclaim Jerusalem and oust the Roman occupiers. We forget that Palm Sunday was an in-your-face sociopolitical statement in the eyes of those gathered. From the Roman point of view, this parade was an insurrection against their power. The established religious officials were upset that Jesus, along with this raucous throng, would throw the city into violent turmoil as people commemorated the Jewish release from Egyptian bondage. The irony is just too rich!

                  Palm Sunday is more than a parade we have made it out to be; on the contrary, for those ushering Jesus into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday was a dissenting protest march on the capital city. Rome and the established religious establishment were worried about armed rebellion. Perhaps even some of the people in the crowd were thinking that, too. But Jesus wasn’t. He was coming as the new King but as a king who conquers hate and fear with love and hope. The only person that week who would feel the violence of the Empire was Jesus himself. His was a kingship of humility, of sacrifice, and one of big surprises.

                  There was quite a panoply of people that day in Jerusalem. There was Jesus who was taking it all in but realized how blissfully clueless everyone was about the reign he was inaugurating.

                  There were people who had witnessed Lazarus emerge from the tomb as well as those who wanted to see if what they heard about Lazarus was true; what did he look like? Smell like? Act like?

                  There were some who were all caught up in the excitement and hope that maybe, just maybe, this Jesus was the promised Messiah who would displace the Romans and retake Israel; they had absolutely no idea what that really meant or looked like, but they wanted to be on the side of a winner.  

                  Who else was there? Roman officials trying to calculate the risk of violence with this incredibly large mob. There were the religious officials who were standing back in gross disgust and disdain that this country-bumpkin Rabbi from Nazareth was about to topple the status quo and with it their social influence and power.

                  And then there were those like the disciples themselves. John indicates they were clueless about what was going on and that only in retrospect did they fully “get it.” What were they thinking as they watched Jesus fetch the colt and sit upon it? They were wondering how all the weird things Jesus was saying about death and eternal life aligned with what they were watching. This movement had become so much larger than they ever thought it would. I can see them furtively looking back over their shoulders to make sure things were still ok. All of these disparate groups watching this parade/protest and were forming all sorts of opinions in their minds about what was going on.

                  So, the question for you and me is this: Where do we see ourselves that day of the Palm Sunday parade? Where are we today? What do you and I think is going on? As we once again commemorate Jesus humbly riding in to establish his reign among us, what are we thinking about the rabbi from Nazareth? Are watching him ride into Jerusalem from a distance? Are we worried he is going to upset the status quo of our routines and lives? Are we threatened by him? Confused by him? Anxious about him?

                  These are the things we are asked to ponder as we enter into Holy Week. What is our relationship with the one who has come to liberate us to set us free and make us whole? Gratefully, we are given food for the journey to help us on our way.  We are invited to come to the Lord’s Table and be served by his hand and be fed his body and have our slaked souls refreshed with his blood. As you come forward for communion, let’s reflect upon why we came to the parade. In the Name of the One who is, who was, and who is yet to come. Amen.

© 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801.  Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

1 JB Phillips New Testament (Phillips) The New Testament in Modern English by J.B. Phillips copyright @1960, 1972 J.B. Phillips. Administered by the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by permission.

2 1 Maccabees 13:51-52.

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