Sermon title: “Seeing is Believing” / Scripture: John 20:19-31 (NIV) / Preacher: Rev. Claudia Genung4/24/2022 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. — John 20:19-31
Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! We are still in the season of Easter. Easter season lasts for 50 days until Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is June 4 this year and Pentecost is my absolute favorite of all the church holidays because it is about the Holy Spirit! So mark your calendars for June 4 and I encourage you to wear something red or “fire colors” (yellow, orange, or blue for the blue flame) to represent the fire of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. The Holy Spirit is something we experience and sometimes feel. We may not see the Spirit but we know that God’s Holy Spirit is what is guiding us. The Holy Spirit may have guided the disciples to the room where they were hiding and scared. The disciples saw what had happened to Jesus and didn’t know if they would be next. Scripture tells us they were behind locked doors and afraid. Can we somehow identify with them? Their feelings of fear? Have you ever felt frightened and anxious about anything? Sometimes we may be teetering between belief and doubt depending on the circumstances in our lives. Sometimes we just go forward in faith and know God is with us whatever happens. But there are times that the initial fear of the unknown remains or times that we may have our doubts. *Sometimes fear and doubt go together. * The disciples doubted the women and that Jesus had risen. Now Peter and another disciple had seen the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene has spoken with the risen Christ, and she has told the disciples about it. In Luke 24:11 (NIV) it says, “But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” They didn’t believe that Jesus had risen and had locked themselves away in fear. But fear doesn't have the final say. 1 John 4:18 sit says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” But that was NOT what they were probably thinking as they cowered together behind locked doors. John 20:19-25 says,”…when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Just because he wants to see Jesus’ wounds to believe, poor old Thomas gets branded as a doubter forevermore. Do you realize that nowhere in the story of “Doubting Thomas” does it actually say that Thomas doubted? The word “doubt” doesn’t appear even if he had his doubts. Actually, Thomas was pretty faithful to Jesus. In John 11:16, Thomas bravely urged the disciples, “Let us go, that we might die with Jesus!” (This was after Lazarus’ death when Jesus was determined to return to Judea where the Judeans had previously tried to stone Jesus.) Another example is from John 14:5-7 , Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Thomas was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel. He is also believed to have crossed the largest area, which includes the Parthiam Empire and India. Many people came to believe in Jesus through Thomas's work, and in the 1700s when Christian missionaries arrived in India, they found a thriving small group of Christians known as the Mar Thoma Church, a church that continues to this day. When I was in Chennai India, for a Pastors’ Conference many years ago, I visited the Mar Thoma Church and learned from them about how Thomas had most likely been in India preaching and teaching. In addition, if we look again at today’s scripture, we see that Thomas was the only disciple not hiding behind locked doors. Thomas is loyal to Jesus. If Thomas did have his doubts, so what? The church is full of doubters. All of the really good theologians of the church were doubters. Martin Luther himself was a doubter. Doubt is not the opposite of belief. The opposite of belief is unbelief. Doubt is part of faith. My search for the unbelievable, unseen Jesus led me all the way to seminary. My doubts and my questions haven’t hindered my faith. On the contrary my doubts and my questions have fed and nourished my faith. We can always go to God to share our doubts. God will listen. Thomas perhaps speaks for a good many of us. Can we believe in things we cannot see? Some of us may live our lives as though seeing is believing. There are so many things that I see that I know I’ll never understand. For example, I don’t really understand how a TV actually works but I watch it. Another example is that I see people talking into cell phones every single day and I still don’t understand how voices travel though time and space. There are so many other areas of my life, for which no amount of scientific knowledge or technological savvy or historical data could ever help me to understand or believe. When I engage in the deeper questions of the purpose and meaning of life, when I face relationships that require reconciling, or when I struggle with life’s tragedies, I need something greater than what the current circumstances offer. When situations arise that leave me speechless or that are just too horrific for my thoughts, I need more than what I can engage with my five physical senses. I need to believe and trust in things I cannot see. The Gospel of John is written for people like you and me— we did not get to see Jesus’ resurrection with our own eyes, but who live on a daily basis as Easter people who experience the resurrection in our own lives. I believe in the power of the Risen Christ to work in the Body of Christ to bring God’s reign of justice, grace and peace to life. Yes, I still have my doubts. There are days when I wonder if the Body of Christ that is the church is up to the task of ushering in God’s reign, or providing a vision of abundant life for all. But I choose to place my trust in the God Jesus reveals. Martin Luther King said that, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Belief in something you can’t see requires vision; the ability to see beyond what is and then to act as if it is so. What I can see in the church isn’t perfect by any means. But my faith is not in the church, my faith is in a vision of God that is revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. My faith is about practicing the love of God that is revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Doubting Thomas has become for me a character who encourages the faithful, not to give up our doubts, but to embrace them, because I have come to believe that doubt and faith are partners. So, I embrace my doubts and live in my questions. Thomas would speak to doubters today, to those of us who have seen our hopes and dreams destroyed. But I have the belief in resurrected Jesus Christ, who loves us whether we have doubts or not, whether we are wounded or not, and assures us of His everlasting love. I like how in the story in our scripture for today how Thomas wants to touch the wounds of Christ before he believes. Thomas wanted to see the wounds himself to make sure Jesus was human and not a ghost. I also believe Thomas had a need to somehow be part of the pain Jesus went through. He wanted to identify with the suffering of Jesus by touching the wounds of Jesus. I am reminded of the insights of one of my favorite authors, Fr. Henri Nouwen, who wrote: “Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.” Nouwen asked, “How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?” This question came from the stories of Nouwen’s life, and out of those stories, Nouwen coined the phrase, “wounded healers.” Over the years, I have seen the power of “wounded healers” at work. I have seen embraces that have moved me to unlock some of the doors that my own pain has caused me to shut, releasing me from the fear of more loss. There is both a captivity and a freedom in our woundedness. Our stories tell us who we are and who we are becoming. The wounds of the Christ are all around us. As we remember Christ’s wounds and Thomas who touched them, may these wounds continue to inspire in us a desire to touch and be touched, to heal and be healed. For like Jesus, we too are called to be “wounded healers.” In this telling story we hear Christ’s earnest prayer in the word expressed from the depths of the wounded Jesus, “Shalom.” Peace be with you. Shalom. Our longing for this Shalom, this peace, opens us to the pain of our own woundedness, which has the power of healing. There’s a Benediction by the Irish poet, peace activist and theologian, Padraig O Tuama, that captures this longing: Padraig writes: “the task is ended go in pieces our concluding faith is being rear-ended certainty’s being amended and something’s getting mended that we didn’t know was torn we’re unravelling and are traveling to a place of new-formed-patterns, with delusion as a fusion of loss, and hope, and pain and beauty. so, the task is ended go in pieces to see and feel your world.” May our stories, your stories, the stories of Jesus’ followers, continue to show our woundedness, and help us into becoming the “wounded healers” that are needed in our world today. May the healing of our wounds release us from our fear and open us to the depths of who we are. May we be free us from the places where we have been locked away in fear. May we “go in pieces”, to touch and be touched. May we go in the assurance that the resurrected Jesus Christ, who loves us whether we have doubts or not. As the poem I read says, “Let us go in pieces to see and feel your (God’s) world.” The resurrection of Jesus is a promise of new life for all creation. Ambrose of Milan in the fourth century preached; “In Christ’ resurrection the earth itself arose.” May the faith of Thomas live in us! “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe!” Open the eye of our heart, Lord. We want to see you and we see you in the signs of the resurrection everywhere – in people and in God’s creation. Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
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Let us prayer. God of the resurrection, the women went to the tomb, hands laden with the spices of sadness. Yet, you met them in resurrection power, and sent them running down the path to tell others that the tomb was empty. Meet us this morning and reveal to us the risen Christ so that we too may tell the good news that life is stronger than death. Amen.
Today is Easter! Alleluia Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan wrote a book on Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem and in it said, “Without Easter, we wouldn’t know about Jesus and give meaning to his death! We wouldn’t even have a “Good Friday,” for there would no abiding community If the story ended there.” The Easter story of the resurrection is central to our faith. As Paul is often quoted in saying,” If Christ had not been raised then our proclamation would have been in vain and your faith in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:14) Christ was raised from the dead and lives. If you look at all the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John you will see slightly different versions of the Easter resurrection story. (John 20:1-18; Luke 24:1-6; Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8) For example, there have been different interpretations how many and which women were present at the cross (Matthew 27:55–56; Mark 15:40; Luke 23:49; John 19:25) or the women at the burial (Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55) or women at the tomb (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10; John 20:1). The women stayed even if others had abandoned him. I also want to remind you of the presence of a group of female disciples of Jesus at the crucifixion of Jesus is found in all four Gospels of the New Testament. One of the gospels mention an earthquake, another mentions three women instead of two visiting the tomb (Look back on our church sanctuary – do you see the banner with the kanji “shin” on it and it is stylized to look like the women leaving the tomb? It is stylized to show the three women at the tomb), two gospels mention many women, another gospel has seeing one angel (Matthew and Mark) or two angels (Luke), and another mentions Mary Magdalene running back to tell the rest of the disciples that Jesus’ body is gone. Different witnesses will remember different parts stories of the events. But what was the truth in all of them is that Jesus who was dead was not alive! Jesus Christ had risen from the dead! Rev. Charles Spurgeon said,” We have hope in eternal life and we have hope to make this world. Without Christ there is no hope.” Today’s reading from Matthew has two women, Mary and Mary, who go to the tomb to find Jesus but encounter an earthquake. Who has been in an earthquake? Raise your hands. Maybe we can guess how these women felt. I was in an earthquake one on March 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm in Tokyo. As the quake got stronger and stronger, I ran out of the restaurant where two of my West Tokyo Union Church members and I were having a late lunch to celebrate at an Indian restaurant in west Tokyo area. All of us prayed as we went into the street and we saw things falling all around us. We went to an open space and we keep praying. This should always be an automatic response to any crisis or scary situation – you prayer. Earthquakes are frightening and I am sure those of you who were in Kobe in 1995 can attest to this fact. Mary and Mary might have been frightened at first by their experience of an earthquake that rolled the huge stone in front of Jesus’ tomb away. They see an angel of the Lord all in white. They are understandably afraid. But then later they are filled with hope once they realize they have seen the resurrected Lord. Christians are people of hope. Most of us have been through a crisis of some sort or have some scary things happen to us. But hope is what keeps us going. As the famous hymn goes, “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. On Christ the solid rock I stand.” It is Spring now and we are emerging it seems from a pandemic. However, the war in Ukraine is now on our minds. How can we remain hopeful in a hurting world? We need hope. We need faith. C.S. Lewis said, “Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” A Christian’s hope isn’t an escape or wishful thinking, as C.S. Lewis says, but something that a Christian is meant to do. Even though we are to have hope in the future God has for us, there are going to be times when we have suffering and pain in our lives. So while we’re in the midst of suffering, we should look to Him, not only to give us strength, but to give us patience and the ability to endure. Better things are yet to come! Sr. Joan Chittister shares these words from her book, Scared by Struggle, Transformed by Hope. “It is true that Jesus who lives in us died but did not die. It is true that we have all known resurrection in our own lives as well. We have been crucified, each of us, one way or another, and been raised up again. What had been bad for us at the time, we now see, was in the end an invitation to rise to new life. The invitation was to a road, we now admit, we would never have taken ourselves if we had not been forced to travel on it. …. Life is not one road. It is many roads, the walking of which provides the raw material out of which we find hope in the midst of despair.” If we turned and talked to people around us this morning, I think you would find stories of hope; stories of new life. When tombs of our lives have opened and the living Jesus touched us and healed us – stories of recovery, stories of love. Stories such as “ I thought I was alone but then a friend reached out to me”, “I was depressed but then my church community supported me.” Or, “I felt a calling to do something new and people prayed for me.” These are signs of hope. These are signs of Easter. What makes Easter credible is that it keeps happening! New life comes to us; light shines in the darkness. Perhaps you have not experienced this new life and you are hoping something will roll the stone away from your inner tomb and awaken life in you. Whether it happens today or not, wait in patience and trust. Life cannot be forced. Growth cannot be rushed. Sometimes it takes a while to recognize the tender shoots of new life already pushing up within us. Easter is about changed lives, yes, but it is also about a changed world. As scripture tells us, Easter is about a day when death is defeated. The promise of resurrection is the promise that “death, all death, not just physical death, but every form of death, whether the living death of destruction by tsunami and earthquakes, or the war in Ukraine, or fear of suffering; or other fears you may have; every tear shed because of death, every power of death is to be no more.” Yes, Easter is about letting lives soak up that promise until it becomes a reality in the world. All of you who open the tombs of our hearts to let love in, you are Easter people. Easter people live with the awareness that death has no dominion. Easter people can stand with the pain of the world and not be overcome by it, Easter people will not tolerate abuse of themselves or others, because we know that love is the way. Easter people insist upon the dignity of life for all because we live in God’s created world. Easter people alleviate suffering wherever they find it, Easter people bring healing and hope when possible, Easter people reach out to create community because we have a promise of a new day. Easter people worldwide share their prayers and presence and help us to realize that we are all part of a community, Easter people are witnesses that God in Jesus is alive in the world, we know life dug out of death, joy borne out of pain. Go now, open the tombs of your heart and of the world, and let the life –giving love of Jesus loose to touch and change you and transform our world. Let us go forth as Easter people to show and witness to others that we believe in the resurrection. Let me pray this prayer that Thomas Merton wrote. Please listen to these words, let them sink in. “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire for all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.” -------------------------------------------------------- Scriptures on hope: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” --1 Peter 1:3 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” -- Romans 15:13 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” -- Hebrews 10:23 --------------------------------------------- Have you ever noticed how many times Christians say: “Jesus was abandoned by ALL His friends”? Because NO. The women never left. THE WOMEN STAYED. Until His last breath and beyond. A WOMAN was the first to discover he was Risen! and like every time a dude is all: “You would have denied Him three times, too” I’m like: Nah, bro. By God’s Grace i would have been with the other women weeping at the foot of His cross. Cuz Mama doesn’t run away. Mama stays. Mama watches until the very last breath. what I would GIVE if someone preached an Easter morning message about the WOMEN WHO STAYED. I’d be a mess of tears. If just ONCE the dudes could de-center themselves. Like why is this too much to ask? ~ Elizabeth Esther (Elizabeth Esther is an American Christian author and blogger. She writes about her experiences of growing up in, and then leaving, Christian fundamentalism.) Let us pray. Lord, let the words of my mouth and meditations of our hearts together this morning be pleasing in your sight O Lord. (Psalm 19:14) You are our healer, comforter, confronter, and encourager as we examine our sins this Lenten season. Please reveal yourself to us as we hear your Word. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
I am always amazed by the contrast between what happens on Palm Sunday, which we’re celebrating today, and what happens during the rest of Holy Week. Palm Sunday, as many of us know, is the beginning of holy week. It’s a day where we remember and celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into the capital city of Israel, Jerusalem. On this day, having finished three years of ministry throughout Galilee, where he called, trained, and taught his disciples, Jesus rode into that walled city not on a tall, shining horse like the conquering messiah/king that the people expected, but humbly - on the back of a donkey. (Luke 19:35) Despite the humbleness of his entry however, his disciples, as well as the crowds gathered to see him, welcomed him fanatically. They waved palm branches, laying palm branches and cloaks across the road in front of him so that not even his donkey would have to touch the dirt of the ground. (Matthew 21:8, Luke 19:35 and John 12:13) People welcomed Jesus excitedly, believing that this miracle worker, this healer, was the great and powerful anointed King of the Jews - the King of Israel. The people thought that Jesus had come into the capital city in order to take it by force, to overthrow the rulers forced upon them by the occupying Roman forces. Israel would be made great again under this majestic and powerful king: King Jesus, King of Jews! King of Israel! People shouted in the streets, “Hosanna!” - a word which means, “save us now.” (Mark 11:9) “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”, they yelled (Luke 19:38) People openly confessed that Jesus Christ was the Lord and Savior, their long-expected king! At his arrival they were prepared to overturn everything, to follow him anywhere to see the people of Israel redeemed and made into a great and powerful nation once again. But by the end of the week, things had taken such a dramatic turn. In that time, Jesus had been betrayed, arrested, taken before the religious authorities, accused of blasphemy - slander against God - for having supposedly declared himself “King of the Jews.” As we all know, Jesus was executed at Golgotha as one of the worst kinds of criminals, nailed to a cross and left to die. (Luke 22:47-23:46) Can you see how dramatic a turn this is? From the glories of Palm Sunday, where all praise and honor were given to him as he humbly, yet, triumphantly came into the city, to Good Friday, where all that praise and honor disappears as he was crucified, left to die in the most humiliating and painful way possible - the way that only the worst of criminals were punished in those days. And what’s more, as you know is that as the Son of God, he committed no sin at all - certainly nothing to deserve this most painful death. It was the sins of the people which put him up on that cross. Today is the last day of Lent, the season where we intentionally examine the sins that live and grow within ourselves, within our lives, and within the life of the church. As you know, I have been doing a sermon series on sin and repentance. I have talked about how refusing to speak up against sin is a sin itself, and how not calling upon God is a sin too. But sin is such a broad term, isn’t it? Since we don’t talk about sin all that much in the church, unless we really take a close look at how sin is expressed specifically in the Scripture, our minds can easily hold on to sin as an abstract concept rather than something clear, understandable, and very relevant to our lives, and even to our walk with God. Today’s Scripture reading sheds light on yet another kind of sin: a sin that comes about when the conviction of our words is measured against the weakness of our faith. What? What does she mean by this, you might wonder. Well, let’s look again at what happened during Holy Week, the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion: On Palm Sunday, the people of Jerusalem welcomed Jesus with words of praise, honor, and glory. They couldn’t stop shouting about what a great king he was, shouting out that he was “the King of Israel!” (John 12:13) and demanding that Jesus save them (Mark 11:9). But by the end of the day on Friday, Jesus was hanging on the cross, being executed as the worst kind of criminal falsely accused of claiming the title “King of the Jews” for himself. What a contrast! What happened to all those words of honor and glory that poured out from the hearts of so many; what happened to the praise that flowed from the mouths of all those people who cheered for Jesus on Sunday morning? “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord–the King of Israel!” (John 12:13) What happened to the people who uttered these words of praise? As they witnessed what was happening to Jesus, did they not speak up? Didn’t they do anything about the fate of Jesus? This is their king, their Lord and Savior after all. Did they just let him die on the cross? The short and perhaps surprising answer is…yes. They did not do anything to save Jesus. And Jesus knew it. Jesus even gives a warning about people betraying Jesus, and that answer is the part of the Scripture we read today. Jesus warns one of his disciples, Peter, saying that instead of continuing to give praise to him, Peter will do exactly the opposite, or perhaps even worse. Jesus shares his prediction that Peter will deny him publicly three times before the morning comes. (Luke 22:34) But despite Jesus’ prediction, and despite the fact that Jesus is the one predicting it, Peter remains full of himself. He is so convinced of the strength of his faith that he says to Jesus, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” (Luke 22:33) Peter was determined. Peter was ready to be punished for his faith in Jesus as his Lord and Savior and even, so he thought, ready to be killed. Peter spoke strongly, certain that he would never betray. But as we know, just like Jesus predicted, Peter wound up denying Jesus three times publicly, just before dawn. (Luke 22:54-62) The crowd who came to cheer for and show strong support to Jesus as their king did not do anything to save Jesus. Jesus’ own disciple Peter denied saying he did not know him. And as we all know, another disciple of Jesus, Judas, sold Jesus out to the religious authorities: to be arrested and killed. (Luke 22:47-53) All these people claimed their love and obedience to Jesus with their words, but they did not follow through when it came to their actions. They said they loved him, honored him, and would follow him the rest of their lives, but despite the strength of their words, their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior wasn’t strong enough when it seemed like that faith might cost them their lives too. At one level or another, I think we have all failed to have a sufficiently strong, active faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. I have numerous examples of this kind of failure just on my own, to be honest. When the future seems uncertain, I tend to doubt God’s promise to sustain and provide for myself and my family, so I have gone to google and started looking for any information which can assure or give me peace, rather than just going to God in prayer. I have judged people harshly, thinking that they are incapable of change, even though God promises us that in Christ we can be made into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Sometimes, I think and act as though what is happening to me now, or whatever I’m feeling or experiencing, is a permanent condition which has doomed me forever, even though God promises that the mercy of God is new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). A church community can find itself failing in faith in the same way that we as Christian individuals do too. We could be investing ourselves in being a busy church, trying to make many things happen in our community rather than practicing the discipline of waiting on God in order to bring about Godly solutions. We could find ourselves making church decisions based on fear - fear of what could go wrong. We can find ourselves being so very judgemental toward one another, rather than looking to each other with love, compassion, and forgiveness. All these things are side effects of a lack of faith in a community, a sign that we do not fully believe or understand who Christ is and can be for us. Christ is the one who can forgive anything and who asks us to do the same. Christ is the one who can take difficult or deadly situations and use them to create new and wonderful possibilities. But we don’t rest assured in the full conviction that Christ is with us; we don’t fully accept who Christ is and all that Christ can do in us and through us. Today’s scripture passage doesn’t explicitly say that lack of faith is a sin, but if we read it closely we can see Jesus indicating exactly that. In verse 32, Jesus says to Peter, “Once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32) “Turned back” here means to return to a place of faith. That means Peter went somewhere, and wherever that was was not a place of faith. In fact, Jesus points out that Peter will find his faith in Jesus lacking, even telling people that he doesn’t know Jesus at all. (Luke 22:34) Any direction we may choose to go which is not guided by God, or which does not involve recognizing Jesus as Lord and deliverer, is off course. And anything that strays from God’s course is a sin. So Jesus is saying here that Peter is about to commit sin soon. I think it is a very natural tendency of humans to deny or feel offended when we are confronted with our sins - sins of the past, sins of the present, and even sins of potential, of the future. Even though God is the one who confronts, it is definitely not pleasant to be told that you have committed, are committing, or that you will commit sin. But why is that? I think this bad feeling is, at least in part, because we don’t know what to do with the feelings of heaviness that come with having strayed from God’s will. Maybe we feel like the entirety of ourselves, our very identity, is being denied and threatened when our sin is exposed. That bad feeling we have might not always be related to guilt over what has happened or what we have done, but it may be based on feeling that our character, our very identity, is being attacked, leaving us feeling guilty, defensive, or even angry. And it is a heavy, challenging feeling when we feel like our character, our identity: our very existence - is being denied or attacked. It’s interesting to me that Jesus chooses to talk about Satan at the start of today’s passage. Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat.” (Luke 22:31) Jesus recognizes that the forces other than Peter have come into the picture and are shaking the faith of all disciples. (Luke 22:31) But Jesus also attests to the strength of the disciple’s. Reflecting on his time with the disciples over the last three years, he says to them, “You are those who have stood by me in my trials;” (Luke 22:28) Jesus recognizes the perseverance of faith the disciples have shown over the last three years they have been together. He recognizes the strength of their faith, but Jesus also does not sugarcoat what is going to happen to them. Strong faith until now does not mean they are guaranteed strong faith from now on. Jesus says that their faith is going to be shaken - hard- just like wheat is sifted. When God confronts us with the depth of our sin, it’s never coming from a place of condemnation, hurtful intent, a desire to attack our character, self-worth, or even our personal history in the faith. God knows, as well as we do, that there have been times where we have been faithful, giving, caring, rather than doubtful and afraid. But God also knows that there will be times that aren’t like that as well. There will be, and have been, times where we act out of a desire to be judgmental, fearful, or unforgiving. Times where we do not call upon God first. That’s all. It’s not a denial of our character, or a rejection of our long, devoted faith history of all that we have done for God and God’s community. Sin is just a thing that happens, the expression of the imperfection that comes from us simply not being perfect - not being God. But you know what the good news is? Even now, even when we have commited sins - even when we are going to commit sins - Jesus has already prayed for us. Look at how Jesus prayed for Peter as he approached his upcoming sin. Jesus said to Peter, “I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail.” (Luke 22:32) Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) so we know he will do this to us also. Jesus prays also that our own faith, a faith we have claimed as our own, may not completely disappear when our faith is shaken deeply and leaves us feeling very weak. Jesus prayed for us, for our weaknesses, and for our sins. When you think about that, don’t you feel so much love from Jesus? Jesus prays that we will not completely be separated from God despite those sins we commit. Jesus recognizes that the worst, most painful place that a person can be is when they feel separated from God, even abandoned by God. Even knowing the full depth of our sin, God’s very identity is too loving, too compassionate to permit us to suffer that way. So when Jesus says to Peter, “But I have prayed for you.” (Luke 22:32), this is what he’s saying: You are loved, cared for, and prayed over by me, especially when you commit sins. And that is true for us also. And there is still more! Jesus has a plan for us that comes after repentance too. Isn’t it wonderful that there is a place for us in God’s great work, as we acknowledge our sin, repent, and come back to God? Isn’t it amazing that coming face-to-face with our sin doesn’t have to be a dead end? Look at verse 32 and see what Jesus says to Peter. “...once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32) What a wonderful plan God has to invite us all together in strengthening our brothers, sisters, and siblings in Christ once we turn back to the Lord! Peter denied Jesus three times, but Jesus was crucified and died not only for Peter’s sins, but for the sins of the whole world: sins of the past, sins of the present, and sins of the future. And we will celebrate what Jesus did for our sins on the cross next week on Easter! After Jesus was raised from the dead, he appeared to Peter and asked him if he loved Jesus three times, mirroring Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus a few days earlier. At first, this little reminder must have stung for Peter who probably struggled with a great sense of guilt. After all, who would want to experience a reminder that you have messed up that badly? But that isn’t where Jesus’ focus is. Every time Jesus asks Peter if he loves Jesus, Jesus responds with a revelation of his plan for Peter’s life, and the life of those who would follow. Jesus says to Peter, “Feed my lambs.” (John 21:15), “Tend my sheep.” (John 21:16), and “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:17). But there’s a responsibility here too. Jesus needs more from Peter than a simple “I love you.” Now that Peter has repented and returned to a place of faith once again, Jesus commands Peter to look outward. Jesus sends Peter out on a mission, a great work to help serve the needs of the people. After his failure to stand up for Christ, Peter embraced faith again, and his newly repentant faith saw him preaching, teaching, and spreading the Gospel throughout the world. Peter’s faith wasn’t enough to follow Jesus to the cross at first, but his repentant faith saw him make good on his promise to follow Jesus to the end as he was crucified himself in Rome some years later, having lived and died as a testament to God’s glory. Sin is rooted in our lack of faith, and it separates us from God, but it is never the final destination. In repenting and turning back to God, we are given a new mission, and with it we are given a newer, stronger faith and the determination to carry out that new mission. Over the last few weeks of this lenten journey we’ve been talking together, I have spoken about the sins of our church. I imagine that this has not been an easy thing for you to hear, with all this heavy talk about sin. You might wonder, are we really so screwed up? So hopelessly broken? Condemned by God to the point that no recovery is possible for us? Is there even a hint of hope? If you’re wrestling with feelings like these, I want to also talk about the beautiful legacy of our church. The Lord has kept our church for almost 150 years; the second oldest Union church in Japan. We welcome people from all over the world, from diverse backgrounds. What great purpose the Lord must have for us! How beautiful it is to see and understand that no matter how different we might be from each other we can still come together in worship and praise of our wonderful, merciful God. Sin doesn’t cancel out all the goodness that is in our church community. No matter how hard we might try to be perfect, sin still manages to sneak in. We, as a church community, have acted sinfully, and in bad faith and, as a direct result of this, we have produced sickly and bitter fruits like judgement, distrust, blaming, and avoidance of key issues in our walk with God. In Christ, we are able to do all things, but we have not always relied on Christ to work within us in this way when it comes to sin. Friends, we are a church community that has been prayed for by our Lord and Savior in these times of difficulty, cared for in those times where our faith has weakened and our own sinful nature takes control - in all those times of sinfulness and weakness, Christ was there too. When we engage in the difficult task of recognizing and acknowledging our sins, allow ourselves to truthfully, openly, honestly, come face-to-face with the many ways in which we have fallen short of the glory of God - when we choose the way of repentance - we find that God has prepared a beautiful place for us in God’s great unfolding plan; a beautiful mission given to us to help and support one another Isn’t that a beautiful vision? Our need for repentance can be difficult to accept, but when we look beyond it, there is so much hope, so much excitement, that can be found in the mission God has for us and the world. As a church community which Christ Jesus himself has prayed for, we can turn back towards a place of stronger faith and powerful hope, strengthening each other as we go. We can become an example to the world of what it means to embrace God’s path of repentance, redemption, and resurrection. We can become a community who serve God by uplifting each other, uplifting our community, and even strengthening other churches too! Who would like to envision such a bright future with me? Who wants to join me in looking beyond the challenges of repentance and self-reflection to the church God calls us to be: a church that prays for others, just as Christ has prayed for us? I hope we can all look towards God’s promised future, and embrace God’s calling on our community, following Christ together. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, as we go through this Lent season, help us to connect with you in a much deeper way as we look at what separates us from you; our sins. In your name we pray, Amen.
Have you ever had a moment where you realized that other people in your life somehow managed to not do something which was totally obvious to you? For me, that happens pretty often, like when my kids somehow “forget” to do their homework, or to give me school paperwork that they needed signed. Or when Don “accidentally” leaves his socks on the floor. (I know, I do that too, but it’s a little more aggravating when your spouse does it, isn’t it?) When this sort of thing happens, I find myself telling my kids (or Don); “Hey, what happened? You didn’t do the thing!” And of course they finally see it, and they reply, “Oh. Yeah. Whoops. I forgot!” I think it’s fairly easy to notice when others don’t do things that we think are obvious, things we think couldn’t possibly be missed, but when it comes to ourselves we can be completely blind and deaf. When it comes to things that are so obvious for ourselves, things that are so easy to notice in others, we suddenly can’t manage to see them at all. Especially those obvious things in our walk with God. I want to share a story with you. About 5 or so years ago I was studying at seminary in America. I was wrestling with the question of what the future plans would be for my family and I after I graduated. I was pouring out my anxieties, worries, and concerns to a friend of mine, who listened with patience and kindness, and then said: “What does God have to say about all of that?" I was shocked at first to hear what she said. And then, immediately after, I felt so embarrassed. Because you know what? I hadn’t been bringing my concerns up to God. I was so busy dumping my anxieties and worries on someone else’s shoulders that I had completely neglected the most important person in my life; my God. This experience was, and still is, a good reminder for me about going to God first. The truth is that I need that reminder often because, you know what? If I don’t have that reminder, I can find myself forgetting to do the most blindingly obvious thing that any Christian, let alone a pastor, could be expected to do - to bring my worries and concerns, the concerns of our church to God. I have to confess: even though I “know” the importance of going to God first and always, there is a difference between knowing something and practicing it in your daily life. The difference for me however is that, as a pastor, I now have a responsibility not only to remember to take things to God myself, but to encourage the whole church community to prioritize going to God first and foremost both personally, and in our actions as a community. Last month, we had a council retreat where we met to discuss visioning and our plans for the future. Of course, this was such a big conversation to have, and those of us serving there knew that we wouldn’t be able to make final and concrete plans in just the one retreat, but we were still sharing and discussing our thoughts and ideas, when one of the council members said something like, “Can we pause for a moment and pray before we discuss this any further?” This was another moment for me, like the one I shared with you earlier, when my friend asked me “What does God have to say about all of that?” And again, just like the first time, I was shocked at first. Not shocked at what this person had said of course; I was shocked, embarrassed even, that as a pastor, as someone called to lead both practically and spiritually, I did not think to suggest anything like this. Instead, it was a member of the council who pointed out this obvious need - in a sense, that person was more of a pastor to me in that moment than I was to them! I was so grateful that this person had brought this up, and reminded us all of the need for prayer. So we paused our discussion, and took the time to pray. I was grateful for the time we were able to spend in prayer together, but this moment helped me to reflect even more deeply about how I had been functioning in life both as a Christian and as a leader. So I decided that I ought to pray about it even more about it and, while spending my own time in the presence of God, I asked myself, “How could I not even think to propose this most obvious of Christian needs - to bring our concerns to God in prayer?” As I meditated on this question, it was revealed to me that what was at the heart of the problem was a single emotion: fear. I had been afraid to bring up prayer because I feared thinking some might care more for the efficient use of time than to the gentle nudging of the Spirit. I was afraid, thinking that some might be upset if I disrupted the flow of conversation and inconvenienced the business of the church in favor of prayer. As I mentioned to you all two weeks ago, confrontation and assertiveness are not my strongest skills. As I reflected and prayed more, I came to realize that in that space, I was caring more about human concerns, more about human desires, than about the will and desires of God. What might people think if I say this? What might people feel if I propose that? In that realization I repented to God, told God that I was sorry, and now I want to say sorry to all of you as well, because that is not the way I should have acted as your pastor. When we face moments like these in our lives, I don’t think that anyone intentionally chooses not to pray to God. We all know the importance of prayer, at least intellectually. Many of us actually “pray” often: we pray during the service, at the beginning and end of church meetings and classes, before meals and before bed. We do pray, in that way, but I would like to ask us all today to ask ourselves something that goes deeper than these surface-level prayers: Do we really know who we’re speaking to when we pray? Are we truly praying for specific things, lifting up real and honest needs, or are we limiting ourselves to giving thanks, praise, and only petitioning God for things in a very general way? This is what God meant, when speaking through the prophetic words of Isaiah in verse 22 - to “call upon” the name of God asking for specific things, calling for answers to specific questions. The word of God through the prophet Isaiah to God’s people says here, “You did not call upon me, O Jacob.” (Isaiah 43:22) In the early 6th century BCE, the kingdom of Israel had been taken over by Babylon, one of the great and rising powers in the region. Their military force came down upon Israel, taking control of the nation and people of Israel. At this time, many people were taken from Israel to Babylon, forced to move there in order to supplement their population as forced labor. The Israelites had been forced to leave the comfort and safety of their home country by force, made to live in an entirely new land where people spoke differently, practiced a different culture, even worshiped different gods, and all the while they still needed to be able to go on with their lives. They needed to keep working, earning money, and finding ways to support their families and community. Can you imagine how hard that must be? We can see something similar happening right now, in Ukraine as people are forced from their homes, resettling as refugees in new and different lands. You would think that, in times like this, the people of God would do the obvious thing - that they would come together and call upon God. You would think they would cry out, asking God to help them with their difficult lives living as forced labor in a foreign land. But according to today’s Scripture, they didn’t. They did not call upon God. (Isaiah 43:22) Not only that, they stopped doing those basic, obvious things that they once did to remain close to God. God says, “You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices.” (Isaiah 43:23) “You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.” (Isaiah 43:24) These aren’t random, weird things that God is asking for the people of God. Long ago, the people of Israel had been given instructions from God to give animal sacrifices at the altar where they thought God dwelled; burnt offerings like sheep or cattle, offered so that the sins of the people might be forgiven (Leviticus 1). They had been instructed to use sweet or any other aromatic cane to make sacred anointing oils to anoint places and things gathered together to meet God (Exodus 30:23-29). The burnt offerings, sacrifices, and other things Isaiah talks about in today’s Scripture were meant for the people of God to experience and remain in a closer relationship with God This was the way in which they experienced spiritual cleansing, and the forgiveness of sins. This was how they welcomed the divine by making themselves and their places of meeting holy and anointed. This was the basis for their personal relationship with God. But despite all that, the Israelites did not call upon God, did not do the obvious, basic work necessary to remain in an honest, active relationship with God. And when you think about the context it is understandable, right? Living in a foreign country as forced labor, just barely scraping by. They might not have even had money to purchase sacrifices or prepare holy oil or sweet aromas to honor God anyways. It would have been tough to get appropriately honoring sacrifices for God…so why even bother in the first place? But, as unsurprising as it is, God already knew how hard this would be. God doesn’t demand much from the Israelites during this period, and even says, “I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense.” (Isaiah 43:23) The problem God had with the people of Israel wasn’t that they hadn’t somehow managed to offer the “best of the best” to God while still living in captivity - God wasn’t wearied by their lack of expensive, imported, frankincense. God didn’t send the prophet Isaiah to them with these words because tithing was down. God was confronting them because they were neglecting the simple, the obvious - the most fundamental aspect of their relationship with God. They hadn’t prayed. They hadn’t called upon God. In the midst of their captivity here, you don’t even see God calling them out and condemning them for their violation of that first, greatest of the commandments: loving their neighbor. God doesn’t even condemn them for worshiping idols or other Gods! God is saying that the problem here isn’t any of that: it’s that they didn’t come to see God in the first place. It wasn’t that they failed to meet the specific terms of God’s commandments, but that they’d neglected to do the obvious, simple parts of connecting to God - prayers, seeking forgiveness and pardon, and giving praise and honor to the divine presence through sacrifice and offering. When we hear, “You have been weary of me, O Israel!” God is revealing that this lack of relationship is at the heart of God’s displeasure here. And you know what? God is weary of the people too! God confesses to the people through Isaiah,“You have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.” (Isaiah 43:24) Look - you’ve stopped coming to me, stopped calling out my name. You haven’t been seeking forgiveness, that simple act of making sure nothing separates us; making sure nothing disrupts our close, personal relationship. You haven’t honored the special relationship that we could (and should) have even now, in the midst of your exile, by maintaining even the most basic attempts at offering and sacrifice. Instead, you decided that these basic parts of our relationship were a burden for you - unnecessary work, rather than the loving maintenance of an important relationship. “Because you did not call upon me…” (Isaiah 43:22) You can almost hear the grief in God’s voice here, can’t you? When we think about sin, we often think about what you might call “big” sins right? Adultery, stealing, violence, harassment? What else? Or pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth; those so-called “seven deadly sins?” But it’s not just the big ones. God shows us here that neglecting the small, simple, obvious parts of maintaining our relationship with God is a sin. Not calling upon God in the first place - that’s a sin. And it’s a sin that really burdens God, really wearies God. I think we know, or at least we can see, that when we fail to cultivate a close, personal relationship with God it wears us out in the end, experiencing burn-out. But guess what? God is also weary when we don’t cultivate that relationship too. I feel like I should make a confession today. I feel like I haven’t done a good job talking about how important it is for us to call upon God during this pandemic, and now as war has started to rise up in our world. Sin has grown in and among us, as a community and as a people in this world, and I have found myself ignoring this growing weight because I felt like it wasn’t the most important thing for us to focus on right now. And I was wrong. Two weeks ago, I shared with you in my message that because of my own struggles with assertiveness, I haven’t always confronted the sin I have witnessed in our church community. Since then, God has been helping me to reflect upon this weakness and I am starting to see God’s gentle-yet-truthful revelation. I have been missing the obvious. I haven’t been calling upon God in a real, genuine, authentic way. Thus, I also haven’t been speaking to you how absolutely we need to prioritize calling upon the name of God. Rather than prioritizing prayer, I let myself give in to fear, placing my own worries about what others might say or feel should I confront them above the need for all of us, not only me, to move into a closer, personal relationship with God. Instead of going to God with my worries and concerns, pouring my heart out before the Lord, I pretended that I wasn’t scared so I wouldn’t have to call upon God. And when the time came, I couldn’t confront, couldn’t speak up with strong conviction when I saw sin rise up within our community. I did not have the boldness I needed within me because I did not receive it from God in prayer. And when I began to realize this and repented, the difference was remarkable. Once I realized that I hadn’t been bringing my fears, worries, anxieties, and other difficult feelings before God authentically and honestly, I confessed my failing and I prayed. I poured myself out fully, expressed myself more openly and honestly to God during worship, and while reading and studying the Scripture. And the more I did that, the more I did these basic things that are needed to cultivate a relationship with God, the more I found myself being able to be truly honest, both to myself and to others. The more I called upon God for help, the more I found God giving me those things I so desperately needed: boldness, patience, perseverance, self-control, love, forgiveness, and hope. In a way, this COVID pandemic is a little bit like a new exodus. We have been taken to places that we didn’t want to go, and where we never expected to be. Our very sense of normalcy has been taken, and stress is high as all those things we used to be able to do without a care in the world are suddenly highly restricted. This should be a time where we are seeking God more strongly than ever before. This should be a time where we are drinking in God’s presence like the living water it is to us, embracing our challenges with the boldness and strength as people empowered by a relationship with God defined through prayer. But are we seeking God in this way? Are we calling upon God constantly in our own lives together as a church community, seeking that closer relationship through prayer, worship and study and reading of the Scripture? Are we as a church, reaching out to God in relationship each and every moment? Have we been taking worship seriously, really embracing that opportunity to offer ourselves as a sacrifice and offering to God? Have we been reading and studying the scripture regularly, making sure that what comes out of our mouths reflects the grace, mercy, and compassion given to us in the teachings of Christ Jesus? Have we been acting as a people who are intimately connected with God? While I ask these things of all of us, let me be the first to confess before God and all the community that, both as a Christian and a church leader, I have failed to do what God has asked of me. I didn’t call upon God first and always, didn’t seek that relationship for our church community during this pandemic season. Instead, I sometimes allowed my fear of what others might say to dictate my words or actions. I didn’t come to God seeking the boldness that comes from fervent prayer and heartfelt worship of God. And because I didn’t do these basic, obvious things within my own relationship with God as a church leader, I was unable to teach boldly about how we as a community needed to call upon God at all times, how we needed to take our time of worship seriously and commit ourselves in the reading and studying of the Scripture. So today, I come before God and all of you to sincerely ask for grace and mercy, both from God and from you. And with the boldness and strong conviction that comes from having turned my heart to that relationship with God in fervent prayer and repentance, let me say this to you now loudly and clearly: We, as a church, have got to go back to our fundamentals. We need to prioritize prayer, worship, and the reading and studying of the Scripture. We need to stop leading our community according to the dictates of our fear, and with unburdened hearts we need to surrender ourselves to a newer, closer relationship with God instead. I know some of you are tired of serving. I know you’re tired of the church culture of arguing, distrust, and disunity that has grown among us. I know you’re weary. I am too. So let us turn our hearts back to God, let us call upon the name of the Lord together again. Let us just admit to God that we are tired, and pour our hearts out in prayer, worship, and reading the Scripture. Let us share our full selves without any of the fear or pretense - completely naked before God. I want to challenge all of us this Lenten season to prioritize, above all the other things that we think are the business of doing and being the church, to call upon God first. Before we make decisions as a church community, before we present our vision of what church should be, before we talk about doing anything at all - before we even open our mouths to speak - let us first come to God in prayer, and put that relationship first, above all else. Right now, one of the big challenges our leadership is going through is the process of revising our church guidelines as the manen boshi - the government’s COVID restrictions - are lifted. As their restrictions loosen, we also want to relax our own restrictions as well, and welcome children and parents back into our church. But even though we want to do this, we find ourselves wrestling with different opinions about how to do this safely. This hasn’t been an easy season for those in our church leadership - both the council and the pastoral team. With changing pandemic guidelines, online worship, hybrid worship, Zoom classes, changing pastoral care needs, we’ve found the list of things we need to do just keeps growing and going! And as that list grows longer and more complex, there has been a great temptation among us to set everything else aside and focus only on doing the business of church, and neglecting that fundamental, honest, listening relationship with God. This week, I would like to ask you to pray for our church leaders, that we might remember to call upon God before anything else. Like I said earlier, it is so easy to forget to do the obvious. And at the same time I pray that you might hear this urgent call on your own heart as well - the call of our God who wants to be in relationship with you, who wants to hear your voice and be a part of your life, no matter how hard it might be. When you are mad, call upon God. When you are disappointed, call upon God. When you are hurt, call upon God. When you see injustice and unfairness in the world, call upon God. And when you take all this before God, when you invest yourself in worship and the reading of God’s word - when you make your relationship with God your highest priority - you will receive the boldness and conviction you need to take action, to confront the sin within yourself, and within our community. And in that moment, when we embrace God and confront our sin, when we see just how far we have fallen from that honest, loving relationship with God, let us remember the verse that comes after today’s reading - Isaiah 43:25 - God lets our sin disappear into forgiveness, and welcomes us home again. Then, when we have finally called upon God and entered into that relationship fully, we can hear the promise God has made to all God’s people, whether they suffered in captivity in Babylon more than 2000 years ago, or whether they are living through the challenges facing our church community here, today: “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19) Lord we call upon you. Lord, have mercy on us. Amen. |
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