#IamAlive

sermon by Carrie Eikler
John 20:19-31, 1 Peter 1:3-9

I will admit, I am not the quickest when it comes to new technology. 

My mother made us get a cell phone when I was pregnant with Sebastian  8 years ago.

Since then Torin and I have had only one cell phone between us, and it is pretty basic.  Texting, calls.  No internet, no GPS.

I didn’t get on facebook until a couple of years ago.  I really didn’t get what apps were.  I’ve never sent a Tweet.  I’m still trying to figure out what this whole hashtag craze is (for an example, check the title of your sermon).

So for those of you as slow, or slower, than I am with bringing in new social media lingo into your life, let me give you a quick glossary of terms.

Social media=is the interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.  Facebook and Twitter are the most popular, but more and more are popping up all over the place.

App=short for applications.  These are essentially…things that help you do stuff on your devices.  I can’t explain it more than that.

Tweets=the cute name for messages put on the social media site Twitter.

Selfie=a picture one takes of oneself, generally with their phone, a sort of digital self-portrait.

Hash tag (again, sermon title)= these are number signs placed before certain words in social media, such as Twitter, to group messages containing the same hashtagged word.  For example, if you sent a Tweet saying I’m having a great Sunday at #MorgantownCOB, others might use #MorgantownCOB in their tweets and you could see all the people talking about Morgantown COB!

Sometimes, even I, long for the romantic process of pen and paper.  An envelope and a stamp.  But this is how contemporary society communicates.  Sometimes it all seems mundane or narcissistic or a playground for the bored and unfocused, but sometimes this social media has taken a deeper purpose.

Sandra Hassan is a 26-year old student from Lebanon living in Paris.  Hassan had gotten sick of worrying about family and friends whenever she heard news of a suicide bombing in her hometown of Beirut.  A detonation on January 21 spurred her to action.  Partly out of dark humor, partly out of practical concern, she created the “I Am Alive” app.  According to an article in the most recent edition of The Atlantic, the was an “expression of discontent” on Hassan’s part. 

This app allows users, with one touch to tweet a reassuring message to their followers: “I am still alive! #Lebanon #LatestBombing.”  The app quickly caught on: within a month it was downloaded more than 5,000 times.  In addition to cultural commentary, it provided a much-needed service to people who live in areas targeted by terrorists—and to those who care about them.   The moments following a suicide bombing are, after all, among the worst times to make a phone call.  Networks jam.  Getting sent to voice mail induces dread.  “It’s the same cycle each time,” Hassan says.  “You have to rush to your phone or Facebook or Twitter to try to make sure that everyone you know is okay.  It’s a horrible feeling.”  On the ground, the trilling of victims’ phones becomes an eerie score to the aftermath.

In the moments after crisis, everything is stripped away.  Belief, hope, peace. 

This is exactly how I picture Jesus’ followers in the days following the crucifixion.  Moments after crisis.  Everything stripped away.  Not knowing what was going out amidst the rubble, not knowing what to believe in, hope for, where to find peace.

After reading this article about instant survival messages, I was imagining what it would have been like if Jesus was crucified in the age of social media.

Jesus texting Thomas he was alive.
Thomas not believing it.

Jesus taking a selfie to prove it.

Thomas saying someone could have simply gotten that off of Jesus’ Facebook account.

Jesus tweeting pictures of his bloody hands, feet, and side with the hash tag #IamAlive.

Wow.  Now that is to be believed.

And Jesus comes in. Just as he burst from the tomb, so he maneuvers around locked doors to stand among them.  Without the benefit of social media, Jesus comes to prove he is alive, not berating Thomas of his understandable doubts, he gives Thomas what he needs in order to believe.

He gives Thomas what he needs in order to believe.

Unashamed, unembarrassed, he offers his wounds.  Go ahead, touch them, get your fingers in there.  Get messy.  Feel it.  Be a part of it.  I am alive.

The Thomas story is presented every year, the Sunday after Easter.  This is an important story to the Easter season, showing us that we are now witnesses to the Risen Christ.  And we often talk about Thomas’ doubt.  And I have given many an apologetic sermon for Thomas, bestowing the virtures of Thomas, the place we all share with Thomas’ doubts.

But there is more to this story than focusing on Thomas’ doubts.  There is more than imagining what it would be like to feel Jesus’ wounds.

What would it be like, to feel Jesus’ breath?

Before Thomas even came into the room, Jesus said “Peace be with you.  as the Father has sent me, so I send you.” and then he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

This story is sometimes called John’s Pentecost, because here Jesus breathes (which in Hebrew breath and spirit are the same word) the spirit on them, just like the spirit comes upon the people at Pentecost.

Here it is not in tongues of fire, but hot wet breath.

And while the breath is still settling on them Jesus tells them now, go forgive.

Wasn’t that what he said when he breathed is last breath on the cross? “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do?

Receive the Spirit.  Forgive sins.

Not receive the spirit, go convert people.

Not, receive the spirit, go testify.

Not, receive the spirit, go start a war to vindicate my torture.

Not even, receive the spirit, go pray.

Once we receive the spirit, we are compelled to go forgive others.

Forgiveness: the first task of discipleship.

We have just come out of the Lenten season, with its focus on confession, repentance, asking God to forgive our sins.

What if, in the season of Easter (the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost), we shifted our focus to forgiving others?  Easter as a season of forgiveness.

 

Forgiveness is close and personal, like breath on your face.

Definitely like touching an open wound.

Like a locked door in our heart, Christ omes to us, comes in, gives us peace, and strengthens us to forgive.

So take a moment and think about who have you been withholding your forgiveness from? (pause)

What happened between you and that person?

What might forgiving them look like?  Is it a face-to-face conversation?  A letter?  Is it simply consciously letting go of hurt, and a prayer saying “I forgive you.” 

What would it feel like to release that anger, and open it up with forgiveness?

Our quest to forgive can be our hashtag that Christ is alive.  The sign that connects us to Christ’s message in the world.

Christ is alive in us when we forgive. 

Christ is alive in the world when we walk through the rubble of violence and seek reconciliation.

Christ is alive when even in our doubts we seek understanding, and we forgive our shortcomings.

Christ is Alive!  Receive the Spirit.  Forgive sins.

Alleluia and Amen.