Show Me

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

April 23, 2017

Show Me

John 20:19-29

“When it was evening on that day,

the first day of the week,

and the doors of the house

where the disciples had met

were locked for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood among them and said,

“Peace be with you.”

After he said this,

he showed them his hands and his side.

Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again,

“Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

When he had said this, he breathed on them

and said to them,

“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.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin),

one of the twelve,

was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him,

“We have seen the Lord.”

But he said to them,

“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.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house,

and Thomas was with them.

Although the doors were shut,

Jesus came and stood among them and said,

“Peace be with you.”

Then he said to Thomas,

“Put your finger here and see my hands.

Reach out your hand and put it in my side.

Do not doubt but believe.”

Thomas answered him,

“My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him,

“Have you believed because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen

and yet have come to believe.”

****************************************

“Tis a ponderous burden,”

That’s how Jacob Marley described

to Ebenezer Scrooge the chains he wore

in “A Christmas Carol”.

In the film version, Marley drags the chains

clanking, thunking, clattering;

we can almost feel the weight.

I think of those chains

every time I read our lesson.

I think of Thomas chained to the word,

“doubting,”

chained for two millennia,

clanking and thunking through

more than 2,000 years of history

with his “ponderous burden”,

the sting of Jesus’ rebuke always fresh,

“Have you believed because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen

and yet come to believe.”

Yes, Thomas pushed back

when all the disciples spoke with one voice,

“we have seen the Lord.”

But who among us would have reacted differently?

After all, the disciples were saying to Thomas,

“Jesus is alive!”

Jesus, who was dead,

who has been killed,

executed on a cross,

whose body had been put in a tomb—

he was alive!

Even as man of deep faith,

I’ve always found Thomas’ skepticism understandable,

especially when we think about

what he and the others had just been through:

the fear, the stress, the exhaustion;

and then the dismay, the despair,

the grief beyond solace.

The Lord alive?

The Lord risen from the dead?

For Thomas, it was too fantastic.

As much as he might have wanted to believe,

he said, in effect,

“I’ll believe it when I see it

with my own two eyes.”

Look closely at our lesson:

What did Jesus do

when he first appeared to the 10 disciples

hiding behind those locked doors?

There he was, for all eyes to see,

his voice, so familiar, filling the room,

“Peace be with you.”

And yet, the text tells us,

“After he said this,

he showed them his hands and his side.

Then …the disciples rejoiced

when they saw the Lord.”

Then, the disciples rejoiced—

when they had evidence,

when they had proof:

when they’d seen his scars.

Thomas wanted only the same opportunity.

Perhaps it is the lawyer in me—

the law was my first career—

that tends to sympathize

with Thomas’ demand for proof.

Give me evidence,

Give me proof.

The disciple’s words –

they were all well and good;

but, to use a lawyerly term,

they were not dispositive,

they were not conclusive.

It is our human nature to want proof,

to want facts.

And yet, of course,

you and I are men and women of faith,

believing things that cannot be proved,

proved dispositively.

We see God’s glory all around us,

we feel God’s love,

yet, how can we prove God?

Still, God has blessed us with minds—

good minds,

minds to think,

minds to imagine,

minds to create;

and…minds to question,

minds to seek evidence,

minds to seek proof.

The church has for most of its history

been infected with

the virus of anti-intellectualism:

Don’t think;

Don’t question;

Just accept—

what we leaders tell you.

Writing a century ago,

The Reverend Harry Emerson Fosdick asked,

“Can you imagine anyone turning

to the church

if the church seems to say to him or her,

“Come, and we will feed you

opinions from a spoon.

No thinking is allowed here

except such as brings you to certain specified,

predetermined conclusions.

These prescribed opinions

we will give you in advance of your thinking;

…Think; but only so as to reach these results.”

“I plead,” lamented Fosdick,

“for an intellectually hospitable church.”

Yesterday’s March for Science reminds us

how we still struggle with closed minds,

closed minds both within the church,

and closed minds in society at large.

Yesterday’s March reminds us particularly

that within the church

we’ve closed our minds to science

more than any other discipline.

Galileo brought this conflict to light

more than 300 years ago

when he and others questioned the idea

that the earth was the center of the universe;

positing instead, that the sun

was the center of the known heavens,

and the earth moved around the sun.

“That simply cannot be,”

thundered the leaders of the church,

denying science,

denying learning,

denying observation,

denying thinking.

“Scripture tells us,” they raged,

“[God] has established the world;

it shall never be moved.”

(Psalm 93:1; 1 Chronicles 16:30,

Psalm 96:10)

“That’s what the Bible says.

Therefore, the earth cannot possibly

revolve around the sun.  

End of discussion.”

The debate between evolution and creationism,

a debate that has gone on

for more than a century,

has pitted science against Scripture,

as though we have to choose

between faith or science,

that it is one or the other,

that we cannot blend the two.

Now, I am a man of faith,

but I believe in evolution.

In fact, I believe in evolution

because of my faith.

What I read in Genesis is not science,

not the literal truth of how God created.

What I read there,

what I learn from those words,

is that God is our Creator God,

that God creates;

that God created.

The details matter only to God,

not me.

And I also learn from Genesis

that God wants me to

learn about God’s creation,

that God wants me to explore,

wonder, ponder,

question,

look for answers

so that I too might see

that God’s creation is good,

very good,

and so I can fulfill my calling

to care for God’s creation,

remembering that humankind’s

first God-given job

was to look after the Garden.

(Genesis 2:15)

On my list of weekly must-reads

is Tuesday’s “Science Times” section

of the New York Times.

Even if I skim the rest of the paper,

I read the science section to learn about

astrophysics, biology, marine sciences,

whatever the section offers in a wonderful buffet.

And as my scientific knowledge has grown,

so has my faith.

Science has deepened my faith.

Science deepens my faith.

God gave us minds to wonder,

ponder, explore,

imagine, and create.

God gave us minds to look out on the horizon

and wonder what lies beyond.

God gave us minds to figure out

how to build a ship;

how to read the winds;

how to sail the seas;

how to sail toward the horizon;

how to discover new worlds. 

Blending faith and science

can help us to find new ways

to feed the hungry,

as we learned through Rise Against Hunger,

which has developed food packages

with scientific precision

that can feed more and more people.

Blending faith and science

can help us to find new ways

to provide housing for the poor

with things like micro housing.

And, of course, blending faith and science

can help us to see the impact we have

on God’s creation;

how we cannot deny

that our actions have consequences.

And blending faith and science can then

open new doors to how we care for God’s creation,

helping us to leave behind

destructive, damaging choices,

moving, for example,

from 18^th and 19^th century energy sources

to 21^st century energy choices.

Buffalo, where I grew up,

was a dirty industrial city back in the 1960s.

Plants poured black smoke into the sky

and toxic chemicals into the lakes and rivers.

We finally learned the hard way

that the smoke we poured into the sky

killed and sickened,

and that poisons we poured in the lakes and rivers

killed and sickened,

not only men, women, and children,

but fish and fowl – all God’s creatures.

We learned the hard way

that the prophecy spoken through

the prophet Isaiah 2700 years before

was all too timely:

“The earth dries up and withers,

the world languishes and withers;

the heavens languish together with the earth.

The earth lies polluted

under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed laws,

violated the statutes,

broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore a curse devours the earth,

and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled,

and few people are left.”

When we blend faith and science

we learn that when God created,

God created a delicate balance,

and, when we do things

that disrupt that balance,

we interfere with God’s creation.

Biblical scholar James May has written,

“To intervene in the flow of water,

the habitat of birds and animals,

the topography of earth,

is to breach an intricate divine ecology

into which human life is integrated….

We are learning slowly that we damage ourselves,

live in alienation from that to which we belong,

and threaten the future of life,

when we live without regard for this earth

or in denial of how our actions affect it.”

“God saw everything he had made,

and indeed it was very good.”

I can hear God saying to me, to you, to us:

“Show me that you my children

also see my creation as good, very good.

Show me that you are good and faithful stewards

of my earth, my creation.

Show me that you are using the minds I gave you

to find new and better ways

to serve and care for one another,

to serve and care for my creation.

“My beloved children,

I believe in you,

and I have faith in you;

but show me.

Show me.”

AMEN  

What Happened?

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

April 16, 2017—Easter

What Happened?

Matthew 28:1-10

After the sabbath,

as the first day of the week was dawning,

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary

went to see the tomb.

And suddenly there was a great earthquake;

for an angel of the Lord,

descending from heaven,

came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning,

and his clothing white as snow.

For fear of him the guards shook

and became like dead men.

But the angel said to the women,

“Do not be afraid;

I know that you are looking for Jesus

who was crucified.

He is not here;

for he has been raised, as he said.

Come, see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples,

‘He has been raised from the dead,

and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee;

there you will see him.’

This is my message for you.”

So they left the tomb quickly

with fear and great joy,

and ran to tell his disciples.

Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!”

And they came to him,

took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

Then Jesus said to them,

“Do not be afraid;

go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee;

there they will see me.”

****************************************

He knew the words so well,

as though they’d been spoken to him yesterday:

“Sir, we remember what that impostor said

while he was still alive,

‘After three days I will rise again.’

Therefore command the tomb

to be made secure until the third day;

otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away,

and tell the people,

‘He has been raised from the dead,’

and the last deception

would be worse than the first.”

(Matthew 27:63)

Pontius Pilate stood on the terrace

in the shadows,

out of the sun,

which still burned hot,

in amber light in the late afternoon.

He looked out upon the sea

that stretched out before him,

and felt the breeze that kept all of Caesarea

cool and fresh,

so different from that fetid dustbowl of Jerusalem.

Those words,

‘After three days I will rise again’

continued to haunt him three long years

after he first heard them,

continued to haunt him even in Caesarea,

a world away from Jerusalem.

He thought about that week three years earlier

when he’d gone to Jerusalem for the Passover.

It was the custom of the Roman governor,

or, as he was also known, the prefect of Judea,

to be in residence that week,

to leave his palace in Caesarea for Jerusalem,

as a display of Roman power and authority;

a reminder to the throngs of pilgrims

to keep the peace,

and not to challenge Rome.

The events of that day near the end of the week

were still so vivid,

that day when the leaders of the Jewish community—

the chief priests and the elders—

came to him in the early morning hours

dragging with them a man they claimed

was a threat not only to them,

but to the Roman Empire itself.

Pilate remembered how

he had to keep himself from laughing

at the absurdity of that claim.

Anyone who looked upon the man

who stood before him

would hardly have considered him

a threat to anyone,

much less the vaunted power of Rome.

At first, the crux of the priests’s complaint

was that the man had claimed to be

King of the Jews,

so Pilate put the question directly to him:

“…are you the King of the Jews?”

The man’s response stunned him,

“You say so.”

(Mark 15:2; Matthew 27:11; Luke 23:3)

Any other man would have been on his knees by then,

trembling, crying, begging for mercy.

But this man’s calmness was extraordinary.

Pilate had never seen anything like it.

There in the presence of the Roman governor,

along with the leaders of the Jewish community,

and with heavily armed soldiers all around,

the man was serene.

The chief priests and elders kept up their harangue:

they wanted the man taken to

just outside the western gate of the city,

to the hill called Golgotha,

and there be crucified,

Rome’s preferred choice for execution;

hung from a cross like a common criminal.

Now, Pilate had no compunction when it came

to pronouncing sentences of execution;

Pilate’s reputation for brutality

was not undeserved.

After all, order must be maintained;

Rome must be obeyed.

But still, Pilate was not one to rush to judgment.

He remembered how he had said

to the chief priests and elders,

“You brought me this man

 as one who was perverting the people;

claiming that he was telling you

 not to pay taxes to the emperor,

and saying that he himself was the Messiah,

a king;

and here I have examined him in your presence

and have not found this man guilty

of any of your charges against him.

… He has done nothing to deserve death.

I will therefore have him flogged

and release him.”

(Luke 23:14-16)

At the time, that seemed so reasonable to Pilate.

A good example of Rome’s fairness,

its commitment to justice to all,

citizen and foreigner alike,

rich and poor alike.

Pilate was pleased with himself

and his display of wisdom.

But as he stood on his terrace,

three years removed from that day,

the crash of the waves on the shore

echoed the angry howls Pilate heard in response:

“Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Pilate then had tried to throw the whole matter

back on the priests –

the Sadducees and the Pharisees:

“Take him yourselves

and judge him according to your law.”

(John 18:31)

But the priests were relentless,

dogged, determined,

almost threatening Pilate,

“If you release this man,

you are no friend of the emperor.

Everyone who claims to be a king

sets himself against the emperor.”

(John 19:12)

What was a single life to Pilate,

especially the life of one who was not Roman,

not a citizen?

Who would miss the man who stood before him,

other than perhaps a few family members?

In a matter of days, he’d be forgotten.

Still, Pilate tried one more tactic,

asking the chief priests and the elders

to choose between Barabbas,

who was a notorious criminal,

a known murderer,

and Jesus.

Pilate was certain that they’d never choose

Barabbas over Jesus.

But that’s just what they did.

And so Pilate sent Jesus to be crucified.

Pilate thought that was that;

that he had washed his hands of

the whole matter,

that he could relax

and get ready for his return home.

But back they came,

the priests and the elders;

the next day,

after Pilate’s soldiers had confirmed

that Jesus was dead,

back they came with that astonishing request,

“Sir, we remember what that impostor said

while he was still alive,

‘After three days I will rise again.’

Therefore command the tomb

to be made secure until the third day.”

That was too much for Pilate:

“After three days I will rise again”??

Such nonsense.

He knew the beliefs of the Israelites well enough

to know that among the priests

the Pharisees believed in

what they called resurrection,

but the Sadducees did not believe in

any such thing.

Why would he worry about something

their very leaders couldn’t agree on?

Pilate dismissed the priests –

telling them to take care of the matter themselves.

But then, the next day,

as he was getting ready to return to Caesarea,

came the news:

the tomb where Joseph of Arimathea

had laid Jesus body

was found empty,

the stone rolled back,

the guards unconscious,

Jesus gone.

The rumors followed Pilate to Caesarea

over the next few days,

the next few weeks:

Jesus was alive: seen by his disciples,

the scars on his body clear;

Jesus seen in the Emmaus Road;

Jesus seen on the shore of the Sea of Galilee –

cooking fish, eating fish!

Not a ghost, a spirit,

but Jesus alive.

        

At the time, Pilate dismissed the stories

as myth, fabrication.

But now, three years later,

those stories had taken hold as true,

and with every passing day,

more and more people believed them.

                          

What happened three years before?

What had Pilate witnessed?

Could there have been any truth

in what he had heard?

Could Jesus have really risen from the dead,

as he apparently told his followers he would?

                                            

As Pilate, old, worn, tired,

stood on his terrace, looking out on the sea,

he still wondered:

What happened?

What was the truth?

We know, don’t we?

We heard it in our lesson:

in the words spoken by the angel to the women:

“I know that you are looking for Jesus

who was crucified.

He is not here;

for he has been raised….

Come, see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples,

‘He has been raised from the dead’”

All four gospels tell us what happened.

All four gospels tell us not a story,

not a myth,

but the truth.

The words of God’s angel speaking to Mary,

tell us,

tell us what happened,

tell us the truth:

“He is not here, but has risen.

Remember how he told you,

while he was still in Galilee,

that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners,

and be crucified,

and on the third day rise again.’

He is not here, but has risen.”

(Luke 24)

Peter, who so shamefully denied Jesus

those three times the night of his arrest,

helps us to understand what happened,

that we have been given,

“a new birth into a living hope

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

and into an inheritance that is imperishable…”

(1 Peter 1:3)

“an inheritance that is imperishable”

Pilate, standing in the shadows of his terrace,

would never have understood this,

that in Christ’s resurrection,

we have been given life.

The Son rose on that first Easter morning,

and brought new life to all the world,

and the life was the light of all people..

And the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness did not overcome it.

The darkness can never overcome it.

We know what happened.

We know the truth:

Christ is risen!

Christ is risen!

Christ is risen, indeed!

Alleluia!!

AMEN  

“My Hope Is In the Lord”

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

April 2, 2017—Fifth Sunday in Lent

“My Hope Is In the Lord”

Selected Verses from

the Book of Psalms

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my supplications!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you,

so that you may be revered.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope.

My soul waits for the Lord,

more than those who watch for the morning,

and in his word I hope.

My hope is in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope;

My hope is in the Lord!

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul

O my God, in you I trust;

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;

teach me your paths,

for you are the God of my salvation.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

I shall not fret because of the wicked;

I shall not be envious of wrongdoers,

for they will soon fade like the grass,

and wither like the green herb.

A king is not saved by his great army;

a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

The warhorse is a vain hope for victory

and by its great might it cannot save.

I will trust in the Lord, and do good.

I will be still before the Lord

and wait patiently for him.

My steps are made firm by the Lord;

though I stumble,

I shall not fall headlong,

for the Lord holds me by the hand.

For God alone my soul waits in silence,

my soul clings to the dust;

revive me according to your word.

Teach me your statutes;

Make me understand the way of your precepts,

and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

Strengthen me according to your word.

Put false ways far from me;

and graciously teach me your law.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness;

I set your ordinances before me.

I cling to your decrees, O Lord;

let me not be put to shame.

I run the way of your commandments,

for you enlarge my understanding.

My soul languishes for your salvation;

I hope in your word.

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path.

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes,

and I will observe it to the end.

Give me understanding,

that I may keep your law

and observe it with my whole heart.

Lead me in the path of your commandments,

for I delight in it.

Turn my heart to your decrees,

and not to selfish gain.

Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;

give me life in your ways.

I lift up my eyes to the hills—

from where will my help come?

The Lord is my help.

The Lord will keep my life.

The Lord will keep my going out

and my coming in

from this time on and forever more.

One thing I asked of the Lord,

that will I seek after:

to live in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life;

to behold the beauty of the Lord,

and to inquire in his temple.

I believe that I shall see

the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living.

For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

I will hope continually.

I will rejoice in hope,

and I will persevere in prayer.

Yes: I will rejoice in hope,

and I will persevere in prayer,

for I know that it is

“faith, hope and love that abide.”

O give thanks to the Lord,

for he is good;

his steadfast love endures forever!

Great is the Lord

and greatly to be praised!

All your works shall give thanks to you,

O Lord!

And all your faithful shall bless you!

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!

Praise God the Father!

Praise God the Son!

Praise God the Holy Spirit!

May the God of hope,

the God of hope,

our God of hope,

fill you with all joy and peace in believing,

joy and peace

in believing,

so that you may abound in hope

abound in hope,

abound in hope.

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

AMEN

AMEN

AMEN