Dear Friends,

I am still basking in the glow of our Easter Day service, and the joy that flowed between us as we celebrated resurrection and welcomed our newest member into the household of God through the waters of baptism.  Christ is risen indeed!

In my sermon for Easter morning, I reflected upon the different encounters that Jesus’ followers had with him after his resurrection.  Each was unique, and not all registered instantly.  At first, Mary thought Jesus was a gardener, Peter ran away, and the Beloved Disciple believed, though he didn’t comprehend.  This coming Sunday we hear the story of Thomas, who wasn’t in the “upper room” when Jesus first appeared to his disciples gathered there the evening after his resurrection.  When Thomas learns of the encounter second hand, he insists, “unless I see the marks in his hands and touch his wounds I will not believe.”  Unless I see, I won’t believe.  The following week, Jesus comes again to the upper room, and this time, Thomas is there.  Jesus gives Thomas exactly the kind of encounter that he needs to believe for himself.

The encounter between Thomas and Jesus raises one of the oldest of questions: Do we believe what we see, or do we see what we believe? For some of us, belief requires tangible evidence. We want to believe—whether the subject is justice for all or love of neighbor or fairness in the work place—and we do, when we see and experience it for ourselves. For others of us, the tangible evidence becomes clearer to us once we begin to believe.

Jesus accepts either way. He does not shame Thomas for his uncertainty but invites him to touch the wounds in his body and find the confirmation he needs. At the same time, he gives a nod of affirmation to those who have not seen yet but come to believe anyway. They don’t need their faith to fit neatly in tidy square boxes with sharply defined edges and are more likely follow wherever the Spirit’s dance leads them. Blessed are those who trust what they have not yet seen.

What does it mean to trust the evidence of what we cannot see? Is the resurrection real and with us now in this world, which as the blessing goes, is too dangerous and beautiful for anything but love? Maybe in any act where hope triumphs over hate, kindness stands up to bigotry and loving action conquers anger and shame, we are seeing resurrection. Maybe resurrection is what we are seeing when a soccer star lends his Instagram account to a prenatal nurse so that mothers in Ukraine can give birth safely in the hottest war zones.  Or when over a thousand members of Richmond congregations show up at RISC’s Nehemiah Action to present solutions to our City Council members to address housing, gun violence and climate-related problems.  Or when family members move beyond their political differences to honor the life of a deceased relative.

As we move through the season of Easter, I invite you to be on the lookout for signs of resurrection right before your very eyes, because that is the evidence God is giving you to believe for yourself.  To believe is to bear witness to hope rising, to choose life, and again life, over death. We do not need to manufacture proof that Jesus is among us. We only need resurrection eyes to see him already in our midst.

Easter Blessings,

Amelie+