Welcome to our sermon series: “Encountering the Resurrected Christ: An Exploration through Art and Story”. This series draws from research done by Laura MacGregor and Allen Jorgenson into the relationship between parents who have at least one child with complex disabilities and the church. One of the ways parents were encouraged to describe that relationship is through an image. These images were subsequently illustrated by Wendy Newbery. We have been given special permission to use these images and this study as a way to focus our journey through this Easter season.
Image: Candle (Share image and discuss what people see. What do folks think it represents?)
Story: This image was shared by a participant named Ruth who described her relationship with church as like a candle holder, where there is a candle in the middle and a whole bunch of people are holding hands all the way around it. She explains that Christ is at the centre of her relationship with the church and the people represent the support she has received from the family of faith that surround that centre. She does note that the circle is not always perfectly connected. There are times when a hand or two may be more loosely linked or not linked at all, but the circle remains evident. [1]
This image seemed to be reflective of stories from other parents who shared experiences of church families providing vital support at significant and not so significant moments that made a difference in their lives. This included financial support for some. It also included providing frozen, easy to get on the table meals to help with those chaotic nights, respite care to offer parents a break, and a friendly ear so that parents have reliable people to share their concerns, frustrations, and joys. In a sense, the stories highlight how that circle of people is a community, a family, loving and caring in ways that are experienced as profoundly important to the lives of the parents, who are seen as individuals with needs in and of themselves, and the families as a whole.
What do you think? To what extent do we see Ruth’s image reflected in our experience of church? In what ways do we see church like a candleholder, with Christ as a candle in the centre and the church a bunch of people holding hands circling around?
Turning to the Gospel: As I was reviewing this image and these stories in light of today’s gospel, I couldn’t help but think of Thomas. For millennia, poor Thomas has been maligned and referred to as ‘the doubter’. He is the one who supposedly doesn’t get it right away. He needs a bit of extra help, if you will. Of course, we completely ignore the fact that the disciples thought the women’s proclamation was an idle tale last week and needed some extra help before they believed too.
Nevertheless, Thomas, was a bit behind his friends when it came to believing in the resurrection. While that sets him apart in the Gospel stories, it doesn’t seem to have set him apart from the community. There is no sense that they are isolating him, bullying him, or otherwise pushing him aside because he doesn’t get it right away. Every sense of the story is that he continues to be welcomed and included in the community despite his doubts. He is accepted as he is.
The reward for including him in the circle is huge. Unlike all the others, when Thomas gets it, he gets it! His proclamation of faith is deeper and more profound than anything that had happened the week prior. He recognises Jesus in the fulness of his divinity as he says: ‘My Lord and my God!’
The resurrection story reminds us that there are differences in how people received the Good News that Jesus Christ is risen. This truth points to a larger truth that there is a diversity in how people encounter and engage with the world. When we embrace one another in a circle of love and faith, the possibilities for our own understanding and growth increase.
May we continue to centre the flame of Christ in our faith and seek to encircle that flame through our relationships with one another in all our wonderfully, God-created diversity. This we pray as we sing: (VT) 715 Longing for Light
[1] MacGregor, Jorgenson, and Newbery, Beyond Saints and Superheroes : Supporting Parents Raising Children with Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Faith Communities, 100.
