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“Knowing
Does Not Need Validation” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – April
23, 2017 Centenary United Methodist Church
Psalm 16:1-11; John 20:19-31 Our lesson this morning features testimonies from Jesus'
disciples that life continues following our deaths.
This appearance of Jesus covers how and why the cowering
disciples became highly energized. John's
account also covered Thomas' doubts that Jesus appeared to the others
when he had been absent from the group. When Jesus appeared a second
time, he invited Thomas to touch his wounds. What did seeing Jesus alive do to these witnesses?
What does reading these accounts in the Gospels do to us?
It is very difficult to describe how people respond after
experiencing a spiritual encounter of any kind. When our family went to The sheer beauty of the cathedral and its Gothic style was a
testimony to the sensitivities of its creators.
The stained glass along the walls was not scenes from the Bible;
it was scenes from the historic evolution of Christianity in The change that swept over me was in knowing that I had left the
secular world outside and had entered a place filled with icons,
statues, and an array of magnificent
dancing colors that blended
into a tapestry of deep
meaning. The creators tried
to make visible what is impossible to make visible.
No one has been able to
create a solid form that symbolizes what happens during a spiritual
experience. However,
seeing a statue of a saint
can become a vehicle that
transports the viewer into another mystical dimension. While walking along the former railroad bed here in What the
resurrection experiences did for the disciples was to invite them to
open up their minds, feelings and spirit to possibilities that had never
occupied the consciousness of anyone.
It transported them from their
present encounter with visual information to beyond the boundaries of
time and space. These disciples were ordinary people that could not read or
write. History has
shown us that such academic skills were not necessary for their awakened
spirits to continue spreading Jesus' message with energy and enthusiasm,
thus preserving their experience of it for future generations.
John's Gospel recorded an intriguing question that Jesus asked
his disciples: Do you believe
because you have seen me?
How happy and blessed are those who have chosen to make my vision and
message a part of their lives without seeing me. (John 20:29) What is so
fascinating about who we are is when we awaken spiritually, we realize
that nothing new has been added to us.
Our Spirits were an essential part of us at our birth, but
awakening that spirit is often activated by one moment in time when we
sensed the presence of a
deceased loved one. A thief on the cross knew enough about Jesus to recognize that he
was hanging next to a man who was paying the same price as he but was
not guilty of anything. He
asked Jesus to remember him after they both died. Jesus said to him, "Do
not worry my friend, today you will be with me
in paradise." (Luke 23:43) There was another spiritual awakening that occurred while Jesus
hung on the cross. A Roman
centurion, who was part of a
human war machine, was present during the crucifixion witnessing
everything that Jesus said.
Something about Jesus' attitude while being in excruciating pain
awakened that soldier's spirit.
He said for all history to hear, "Truly, this man is the Son of
God." When we have an experience that changes the direction of our
lives, that moment does not need anything else to make it more vivid for
us. No one needs to
validate for us that we got it! We
know that we got it because of a renewed desire to begin making changes
to our lifestyle, attitudes and understanding.
When we look at the turmoil that people everywhere are
experiencing in their lives, they are providing visual evidence that all
their cues for living are coming from the world where everything is
constantly changing.
Nothing holds still. Many people have no grounding or
root system.
They are like a leaf blowing in the wind. People can criticize The
Institutional Church all they want to, but it is among the more
traditional venues that brings people to
a door that only they can
open. Spiritual malnutrition
is seldom recognized by authorities in the mental health field. They
confuse their clients with labels, syndromes, and prescription
medications.
Those who are hungry and open
that door to matters of
spirit will find the answers the moment they want more out of their
lives than what they are experiencing. When our family entered the Notre Dame Basilica in Old Montreal,
the differences in the spiritual awareness of people were striking.
A woman was standing on a pew cushion in her street shoes to take
a movie over the heads of others with her cell phone.
Ten feet from her was another person humbly kneeling in prayer.
Everyone sooner or later reveals the level of their spiritual awareness. One afternoon, one of my church members was talking with a
business colleague as they walked through the There was another occasion when Lois and I were taking a hike
through one of the marvelous wildernesses in I can't stand being
dragged out here from It may be troubling for us to realize that so many people living
around us are on a constant
rollercoaster as they strive for a goal that they feel compelled to
reach. They have no apparent
need to enter a cathedral, no desire to stroll through a Japanese garden
or no attraction to having a mystical thought about what will happen to
them as they face their own death.
Wanting such experiences are not on everyone's
to do list. Today there are so many people taking Opioids that the pharmaceutical industry has had to develop new medications to counteract the side effects of these habit-forming pain-killers. These new creations are called OICs, a reference to medications that treat Opioid Induced Constipation. Our bodies are a printout
of what is going on inside of us. Our
physical bodies were not wired
to sustain the results from many of our choices.
Jesus provided a fairly painless
blue print to follow. Think
of the craziness that people
invite into their lives by their own choices.
God does not need to judge any of us because we are doing such a
thorough job of it all by ourselves.
It's called consequences. Nourishing
our spirits is the only treatment for the type of pain many people are
masking with medications.
The number of people who die each day from
spiritual malnutrition is
staggering. The only sure
cure is to teach people how to reverse their energy flow.
Their preoccupation with self-absorption must give way to the
attitudes that come by serving and helping others with compassion.
Prince Harry has recently gone public about his self-destructive
behavior following the death of his mother, Princess Diana, when he was
twelve years old. It has
recently surfaced that the musician, Prince, had pain medications all
over his mansion. Michael
Jackson died from an overdose of Propofol, a general anesthetic that is
often used during surgery. Whitney Houston, who sang
One Moment in Time, fell
victim to masking her spiritual
malnutrition with pills and alcohol.
These people had wealth, power and prestige.
How many people's lives
are filled with misery because their
spiritual malnutrition
continues to go undiagnosed? People
today are so insistent on what they believe they need from their
personal physicians that it is almost impossible for them to tell their
clients the truth.
The problem many doctors face is their knowledge that there is no
medication that will treat fear-based feelings. Many medications are
miracle-workers, but there is no
pharmaceutical path that will help someone achieve a meaningful and
purpose-filled life. We are spirit-beings
just like Jesus.
His resurrection experiences
demonstrated to his followers who they will become when they leave their
bodies. Jesus'
resurrection was the natural progression of what happens to all of us.
The intriguing mystery is how Jesus was able to become visible to
his followers. A number of people during my ministry have experienced
conversations with deceased loved ones that became every bit as visible
as Jesus was to his disciples. A daughter had a significant conversation
with her mother who awakened her while sitting at the end of her bed.
One night a husband experienced the appearance of his deceased
wife, and she made him promise that he would find another woman to
marry. In both cases, communication from the deceased was telepathic.
Once we have knowledge about this end-of-life process, we
need no further proof, evidence or outside validation.
Why is that? The
answer is simple for those who know.
It works. The
knowledge of our infinite nature as
a spirit-being gives us
perspective. It comforts us in our losses. It expands our awareness. It
helps us to rethink our boundaries. This is another aspect of the
mystery of who we are. Every one of us has our own identity that is specific to our
self-knowledge that has basically come from our environment.
God, however, knows our
true identity, an identity that cannot be defined or defiled by the
judgments we make. We are living in a world filled with people who are not aware of
the vast power they have within them to live each day with contagious
energy. If we have this
understanding, we need to share it as Jesus did. The disciples did that
and here we are capable of doing the same.
We do not have to die before we
begin to live in eternity now.
We have come with a design that enables us to give and never
count the cost. CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER Loving God, we come this morning hoping to discover creative ways of
changing the way we understand our life-experiences. Jesus patiently
taught his listeners the art of letting go of their judgments, yet we
find blaming others a far more satisfying response.
There are moments when we give greater care to our outer
appearance than we do to the quality of our thoughts. Help us to
communicate with more compassion, understanding and patience by making
such qualities visible in our lives.
Lead us to the daily awareness that our world is not
perfect.
It was designed that
way.
We can live in peace
when we no longer insist that others live on our level of understanding.
Thank you for your gift of spirit.
Inspire more of us to find and develop that spirit so that we can
stop being our own worst enemies.
Amen. PASTORAL PRAYER Merciful God, we are hungry to discover
more creative ways to tap into the unseen world that governs the quality
of our lives. As we enter our worship experience, we open
ourselves to ways of moving away from the pace our comfortable routines
have set for us.
Often
being in church kindles our imaginations to tune into a new horizon
toward which to walk, to find a refreshing attitude we want to develop,
or to discover more creative ways to respond to old irritations. We can
easily leave our sanctuary with a renewed understanding of who it is
that we want to become. Yet when we re-enter the world, frequently we encounter the attitudes
and the insensitivities of others.
Our minds can easily respond with old habits rather than with the
new responses that we want to use.
May our repeated failures only strengthen our patience by
realizing that new skills do not come easily. We will never have the
skills of a seasoned sea captain until we have been tested by
every conceivable
weather pattern.
Help us, O God,
to learn that love is a contact sport, not just a concept or an
attitude. When your light shines through us, there can be no
darkness. When your mercy shines through us, thoughts of
bitterness no longer occur. When your compassion shines through
us, we realize that some of us desire to live in community while others
still have that discovery to make in their futures.
Help us to live so that our lives become
a signpost that makes visible
the path to compassionate living. We pray these thoughts through the
loving spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray .
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