“The Same Place”

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After this he showed them his hands and side.  The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

John 20:19-23

I want to begin by thanking everyone who took part in our Easter celebrations last Sunday!  We had such beautiful services and it was wonderful to see so many people, meet extended families, and share in a great celebration of our Risen Lord!  We had lovely flowers, outstanding music and an amazing spirit. 

Our experiences on Easter Sunday are so dissimilar to that first Easter.  Scripture tells us that the disciples, even after hearing about Christ’s resurrection, are terrified.  They don’t truly understand what is happening (which is understandable) and they are afraid for their own safety.  John tells us that they are gathered together and have locked themselves in a room, fearful of the religious authorities.  And then, Jesus appears in their locked room.  He immediately greets them with a word of peace, because they are anything but peaceful (both in body and soul).  He shows them the wounds he received on the cross and they believe.  He then gives them a job to do – “I am sending you!” Jesus says.  He tells them that the power of forgiveness is theirs – anyone they forgive is forgiven, anyone they don’t forgive isn’t forgiven. 

This is a pretty awesome responsibility.  You’d think, especially coupled with the experience of seeing Jesus in the flesh, hearing him, feeling his breath, that they would go forth with joy and exuberance.  They, like us, had an awesome Easter experience full of excitement and joy.  They, like us, encountered the Risen Lord and were charged to be changed and to be a change as a result.  If we were to predict the next part of the story, we might expect the disciples to go and confront the religious leaders, to go and bear witness to everything they have seen, and to transform the world as a result of all they have experienced.

But they don’t.  The next part of Scripture tells us a different story.  Verse 26 states: “A week later his disciples were in the same place, and Thomas was with them.  Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’” John 20:26. One week after encountering the Risen Lord. One week after seeing the wounds of Jesus and feeling the warmth of his breath upon them. One week after being charged with the awesome responsibility of sharing with the world the gift of forgiveness – they are in the same place.  The doors are still locked, and they are still huddled together. 

Most of the time this Scripture passage is used to contrast the lack of faith of Thomas (doubting Thomas) who wasn’t there with them on Easter, with the faith of the disciples.  But the thing is, Thomas wasn’t there that first week.  He wasn’t in hiding, trembling in fear.  We don’t know where he was, but we know he hadn’t barricaded himself inside with the others.  He heard their story of encountering Jesus and had trouble believing because he didn’t have their same experience.  For him to not be out changing the world in the name of Jesus is more understandable to me.  But why were the rest of them there?  Why were the disciples in the same place? Why did nothing about their lives seem to have changed as a result of meeting the resurrected Jesus?

I think the point of this story isn’t just about the disciples.  This Sunday we will once again gather and celebrate the Resurrected Lord.  We too had an awesome experience of encountering a Risen Jesus.  But will we, like the disciples be in the same place, or will we have allowed our experience at Easter to have changed our lives? And will we come Sunday from a different place than we were prior to meeting Jesus?

Blessings, Chris

Worship This Sunday

This Sunday we will begin our new (old) worship schedule with services at 8:00 & 10:20am.   We will begin a new series this week titled “Easter People.”  This week our message is titled: “Love.”  Our scripture reading will be from the Gospel of John, chapter 13, verses 34-35:

“A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

We will begin our service with a video of the song The Same Jesus by Matt Redman.  Our hymns for Sunday include: Up from the Grave He Arose, and They’ll Know We are Christians by Our Love.  Additionally, our video hymn this week is titled At the Cross (Love Ran Red), by Chris Tomlin.

COVID Precautions

Reminder: This Sunday we return to our previous Sunday morning schedule – Worship Services at 8:00 & 10:20 with Sunday School at 9:00. 

Even with our return to our previous schedule and Sunday School, please remember the COVID precautions in place at the church: masks are required for everyone over the age of 2, social distancing is still expected (every other pew will continue to be closed), and we will continue disinfecting pews between services. 

We know there are some who are still not feel comfortable or able to attend worship at this time. Please know that even though we don’t get to see you weekly, we still want to minister to you.  Every Sunday afternoon we will post a recording of our 10:20 worship service on our Facebook page and the message on our website.  We hope this helps you feel connected until we are able to gather again without concern. 

Announcements

Flipz USA Outing – The Nelson kids and youth are planning an outing to Flipz USA in Columbia on Sunday, April 11th from 2:00 – 4:30. We will have the gym to play in from 2:00-4:00, and then eat pizza from 4:00 to 4:30.  Everyone is welcome, bring a friend too!  Please RSVP to the Jacksons or the Bakers.

Blood Drive Coming – The next Red Cross Blood Drive is this Wednesday, April 14 from 1-6pm in our Fellowship Hall.  The need for blood remains great.  We currently have 20 appointments still available on April 14.  You can sign up to donate blood by clicking here.

Sagrada Bible Camp Work Day and Men’s Retreat – Nelson Memorial UMC Methodist Men are sponsoring a retreat the evening of April 30th beginning at 7PM at camp Sagrada Scholarship Bible Camp.  It is located at 33495 Sagrada Beach Road, Lincoln, Mo. 65338.  All men (and male youth, junior/senior high age) in our church are invited!

 Sagrada is a summer Bible camp for children whose parents are incarcerated.  Friday evening, there will be a light evening meal and devotion. Saturday, we will have breakfast, work through the morning, have lunch, and then finish working in the afternoon.  The projects will enhance the camp, and will include such things as replacing tire swing ropes, staining playground equipment, fence building, general cleanup such as raking, picking up sticks, etc.  

We will plan to be back in Boonville by 6 pm Saturday evening.  We hope to get as many men and youth as possible to attend.  Plan to carpool from the church at 4 pm Friday.  If interested in attending, you will find a sign-up sheet in the East narthex, or you may contact Tim VonEngeln.  Youth will need a parental permission slip if not accompanied by a parent. 

Handyman Project – The United Methodist Men are re-activating their Handyman Project by helping those in our church who have items that need to be done around their homes that they can no longer do themselves.  It could be such items as changing the batteries in your smoke detectors, putting in new light bulbs or fixing something that is broken.  If you need help with household items, please call the church office at (660-882-6223), and we will be glad to send a handyman to help you.

Thank You – Baby Grace would like to thank everyone for the wonderful donations of diapers, wipes, lotion, baby wash and monetary donations for our Baby Grace families. 

Events this week:

Saturday, April 10: United Methodist Men, 8:30 am, Fellowship Hall

Sunday, April 11: New Sunday Schedule: Worship at 8 & 10:20 am, Sunday School at 9

Family Ministries outing to Flipz, 2:00 pm, Flipz

Monday, April 12: TOPS, 9:00 am, Foundations Classroom

Al- Anon, 8:00 pm, Church Lounge

Tuesday, April 13: Kitchen Clean Up, 10:00 am, Church Kitchen

NAMI, 6:30 pm, Foundations Classroom

Congregational Care Team, 7:00 pm, Church Lounge

Wednesday, April 14: Al Anon, Noon, Church Lounge

Blood Drive, 1:00 – 6:00 pm, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, April 15: Baby Grace, 5:00 pm, Church Annex

Closing Words of Wisdom:

“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.” – N.T. Wright