{"id":635109,"date":"2023-04-03T09:26:06","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T13:26:06","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-08-17T19:40:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T23:40:54","slug":"shalom-faithful-to-the-dream-of-god-easter-2-a-april-16-2023","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/shalom-faithful-to-the-dream-of-god-easter-2-a-april-16-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Shalom: Faithful to the Dream of God, Easter 2 (A) \u2013 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-yellow-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-yellow-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=DFMS5023509436&#038;light=true\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-yellow-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-yellow-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>[RCL] Acts 2:14a,22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Ea2-2023-Cover-FB-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-285123\" style=\"width:512px;height:268px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We call today Doubting Thomas Sunday. The problem is, there is no doubt! No, really. English Bibles since the King James Version have Jesus saying to Thomas, \u201cDo not doubt but believe.\u201d&nbsp;But it\u2019s not there in the Greek text. It does not say \u201cdoubt.\u201d&nbsp;The Greek is&nbsp;<em>pistos<\/em>, an adjective meaning \u201cfaithful\u201d or \u201ctrustworthy.\u201d Richard Swanson, in <em>Provoking the Gospel of John<\/em>, translates this as,&nbsp;\u201cDo not become unfaithful, but faithful.\u201d&nbsp;This is just what Thomas has been up to this moment throughout the Gospel of John: faithful and trustworthy to a \u201ct\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When word came to Jesus that Lazarus was ill, and Jesus said, \u201cLet\u2019s go to him,\u201d all the disciples but one said, \u201cNo, there are people around Jerusalem and Bethany who want to kill you!\u201d Only Thomas, faithful and trustworthy, said, \u201cLet us also go, that we may die with him.\u201d&nbsp;Thomas is faithful and trustworthy. Jesus knows this. There\u2019s no doubt about it. We need to dispense with anything to do with \u201cDoubting Thomas.\u201d Let there be no doubt about that! For Thomas is alone among this room full of disciples to declare,&nbsp;\u201cMy Lord and my God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas recognizes Jesus as the God of justice and mercy. Those first reading or hearing John\u2019s story of Jesus would have recognized that the moment Jesus breathed on them, he bestowed upon them the gift of God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>ruach<\/em>, God\u2019s Spirit. They would recognize it as the same Spirit-Breath that brooded over the chaotic waters of Creation in Genesis 1:2. The same Spirit-Breath that God breathes into a handful of dust and water to form the first man in Genesis 2:7. The same Spirit-Breath of which God says to Ezekiel, \u201cProphesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As he breathed on them, Jesus said,&nbsp;\u201cShalom, Peace be with you.\u201d&nbsp;If there is a single word that summarizes the controlling vision of world history in the Bible, it is \u201cShalom.\u201d Shalom says that all of creation is one, every creature in community with every other, living in harmony, justice, and security, as we move toward joy and well-being for all, for every creature under heaven, and for every living thing &#8211; the very earth itself. According to Walter Brueggeman\u2019s interpretation in \u201cLiving Toward a Vision,\u201d God\u2019s faithful are to understand themselves as \u201cmembers of a single tribe, heirs of a single hope, and bearers of a single destiny, namely, the care and management of all God\u2019s creation\u201d (Brueggeman, p. 15).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thus, \u201cDo not become unfaithful, but faithful,\u201d&nbsp;is Jesus\u2019s invitation to Thomas and all who are present to live into God\u2019s dream of Shalom, and to share in the management of all God\u2019s creation. It is this dream of God\u2019s Shalom that \u201cresists all our tendencies to division, hostility, fear, drivenness and misery\u201d (Brueggeman, p. 16). By saying, \u201cShalom,\u201d and breathing upon them, Jesus reminds all who would be faithful to him and the God of Shalom of their calling, their responsibility, to the care and management of all of God\u2019s creation: every person, every creature, every plant, every body of water, every molecule of breathable air. We might say with some degree of confidence that this moment among followers of Jesus that evening on the day of Resurrection was in fact the very first Earth Day. It just took until April 22, 1970, for us to institute an annual reminder of this, our central task as humans interdependent on one another, all creatures, and the environment itself. Our lives depend on the lives of the whole environment. This suggests the importance of Earth Day which will be observed later this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It would not be until 2008 that Harper One would publish&nbsp;<em>The Green Bible,<\/em>&nbsp;in which all passages concerned with environmental stewardship are printed in green \u2013 it\u2019s a Green-Letter Bible! The foreword to <em>The Green Bible<\/em> was written by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who says, in part,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI would not know how to be a human being, how to think as a human being, how to walk as a human being, how to talk or how to eat as a human being except by learning from other human beings\u2026 We\u2019re made for community, we\u2019re made for togetherness, we\u2019re made for friendship\u2026 to live in a delicate network of interdependence, for we are made for complementarity. I have gifts you don\u2019t have. And you have gifts I don\u2019t have. Thus, we are made different so that we can know the need of one another. And this is a fundamental law of our being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll kinds of things go horribly wrong when we flout this law \u2013 when we don\u2019t ensure that God\u2019s children everywhere have a supply of clean water, a safe environment, a decent home, a full stomach. We could do that if we remembered that we are created members of one family, the human family, God\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe must act now and wake up to our moral obligations. The poor and vulnerable are members of God\u2019s family and are the most severely affected by droughts, high temperatures, the flooding of coastal cities, and more severe and unpredictable weather events resulting from climate change. We, who should have been responsible stewards preserving our vulnerable, fragile planet home, have been wantonly wasteful through our reckless consumerism, devouring irreplaceable natural resources. We need to be accountable to God\u2019s family. Once we start living in a way that is people-friendly to all of God\u2019s family, we will also be environment-friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs you read The Green Bible starting in Genesis, you will see that after God created birds, fish and animals he created humans to\u2026 act compassionately and gently toward all forms of life. The future of our fragile, beautiful planet home is in our hands\u2026 It is possible to have a new kind of world, a world where there will be more compassion, more gentleness, more caring, more laughter, more joy for all of God\u2019s creation, because that is God\u2019s dream. And God says, \u2018Help me, help me, help me realize my dream.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Jesus said, \u201cShalom. Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you,\u201d when Jesus breathed on them, when Jesus said to Thomas, \u201cDo not become unfaithful, but faithful,\u201d he spoke to <em>us<\/em> &#8211; all of us who would be disciples of his. Jesus says to us, \u201cHelp me realize my dream &#8211; my Father&#8217;s dream of Shalom for all creation.\u201d This second Sunday of Easter ask us: When will we embrace the dream of God&#8217;s Shalom? When will we accept the gift of the Holy Spirit? When will we let the love of God be poured into our hearts? When will we, like Thomas, proclaim in all that we say and all that we do, \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d Let there be justice and mercy for all. There is no doubt that all the children of God, all the creatures of the Earth, and the Earth itself, await our faithful and trustworthy commitment to live in a way that is people-friendly to all of God\u2019s family, and thus, environment-friendly as well.&nbsp;Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This sermon was written by <strong>the Rev. Kirk Alan Kubicek<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-bf1a8c58-d318-4f4e-8838-5e55325d4285\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Sermon-Easter-2-English.docx\">Word \u2013 Easter 2 (A) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Sermon-Easter-2-English.docx\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-bf1a8c58-d318-4f4e-8838-5e55325d4285\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-93594ca2-12e3-448a-9790-d6916c30386c\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Sermon-Easter-2-English.pdf\">PDF \u2013 Easter 2 (A) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Sermon-Easter-2-English.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-93594ca2-12e3-448a-9790-d6916c30386c\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[RCL] Acts 2:14a,22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31 We call today Doubting Thomas Sunday. The problem is, there is no doubt! No, really. English Bibles since the King James Version have Jesus saying to Thomas, \u201cDo not doubt but believe.\u201d&nbsp;But it\u2019s not there in the Greek text. It does not say \u201cdoubt.\u201d&nbsp;The Greek&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201214,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1955,43,52,1953],"tags":[140],"class_list":["post-635109","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-easter","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-easter-2a"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1955,"label":"Easter"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":1953,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":140,"label":"Easter 2A"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/635109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/635109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3478574,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/635109\/revisions\/3478574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}